MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippine government has signed an agreement to guarantee the supply of 30 million doses of the COVID-19 Covovax vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII), the latter’s local partner said on Sunday.
The agreement was signed on Saturday by Carlito Galvez, a former military general in charge of the Philippines’ strategy to fight the coronavirus, according to a statement released by local SII partner Faberco Life Sciences Inc.
The Health Department, which helped distribute Faberco’s statement to local media, has yet to release its own statement. Galvez could not be reached for comment.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque in a tweet said: “We are in the final stages of closing deals with several manufacturers to vaccinate at least 60-70% of the (population)”. He gave no further details.
SII has partnered with Novavax Inc, based in the United States, for the development and commercialization of Covovax, which is undergoing third stage testing and must be approved for use by international regulators, said Faberco.
The vaccine will be available locally in the third quarter of 2021 and will be used to inoculate 15 million vulnerable and poor Filipinos, he said.
Galvez said the Philippines is negotiating with seven vaccine manufacturers to obtain at least 148 million COVID-19 vaccines, as it plans to inoculate nearly two-thirds of its population this year.
Manila hopes to close similar deals with Moderna, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Sinovac Biotech and the Gamaleya Institute this month.
There are now three candidates for authorization for emergency use of their vaccines in the Philippines – Pfizer, AstraZeneca and the Russian Gamaleya.
With a total of confirmed COVID-19 infections of 487,690 and deaths reaching 9,405, the Philippines has the second highest number of cases and deaths in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia.
(Reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz; Editing by Bernadette Baum)