PH to ink supply deal for 30M Novavax doses on March 10

MANILA – The Philippines is set to sign on March 10 the supply agreement with United States’ (US) drugmaker Novavax for 30 million doses of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine, Malacañang announced on Tuesday.

“Pipirma na po bukas, ika-10 ng Marso, ng supply agreement with Novavax. Thirty-million po iyan (The Philippines will sign tomorrow, March 10, the supply agreement with Novavax. That’s 30 million [Covid-19 vaccine doses]),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual presser.

Roque’s statement came the same day Covid-19 vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. flew to India to negotiate the procurement of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Novavax and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.

Galvez will stay in India until March 12 for the expected signing of the supply agreement for 30 million vials of Covid-19 vaccine from Novavax.

Roque announced that the Philippines has also signed purchase order for one million doses of CoronaVac vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical giant Sinovac Biotech.

On Feb. 28, the Chinese government donated to the Philippines around 600,000 shots of Sinovac vaccine.

The arrival of the first batch of Sinovac jabs enabled the Philippines to start its mass immunization program on March 1.

Roque said the Philippine government has also signed a supply agreement with US’ biotech firm Moderna for 13 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine.

He said the negotiations for the supply agreement for Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines are “still in progress.”

“We have an emergency situation,” Roque said. “We will get whatever vaccine we can get. We will use it.”

On March 4, the Philippines also received around 487,200 vaccine doses developed by British drugmaker AstraZeneca. Additional 38,400 doses of AstraZeneca also arrived on March 7.

The Philippines aims to inoculate around 70 million Filipinos within the year to achieve herd immunity and to further reopen the economy.