MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippine government has signed an agreement to secure the supply of 30 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine Covovax from Serum Institute of India (SII), the 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 issued by SII’s local partner, Faberco Life Sciences Inc.
The health department, which helped spread the Faberco statement among local media, has not yet issued its own statement. Galvez could not be immediately reached for comment.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a tweet: “We are in the final stages of concluding agreements with various manufacturers to vaccinate at least 60-70% of the (population).” He gave no further details.
SII has partnered with U.S. Novavax Inc. to develop and commercialize Covovax, which is in the third phase of trials and is expected to be approved for use by international regulators, Faberco said.
The vaccine will be available locally by the third quarter of 2021 and will be used to vaccinate 15 million vulnerable and poor Filipinos.
Galvez said the Philippines has negotiated with seven vaccine manufacturers to obtain at least 148 million COVID-19 shots, as it wants to vaccinate nearly two-thirds of the 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 applicants for emergency use permits for their vaccines in the Philippines – Pfizer, AstraZeneca and the Russian Gamaleya.
With total 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.
(Reported by Enrico Dela Cruz; edited by Bernadette Baum)