PH renegotiates with Pfizer for 40M doses of Covid-19 vax: Galvez

MANILA – National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Tuesday said the government is negotiating anew with Pfizer-BioNTech company for the supply of 20 to 40 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine.

“Ang magandang balita po ay nagkaroon tayo ng renegotiation with Pfizer at tinitingnan po natin na baka magkaroon po ito ng kaganapan dahil nagkaroon naman po ng favorable..tinatawag nating comment ang ating DOJ for the indemnity at immunity clause na naroon (The good news is that we have renegotiation with the Pfizer and we are looking into positive results because the Department of Justice had a favorable comment on the indemnity and immunity clause in the agreement),” Galvez said during the Palace press briefing.

Once the bilateral deal pushes through, Galvez said Pfizer will also give the Philippines some 2.4 million doses through the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility.

“Isa po ito sa pinakamalaki na ibibigay ng Pfizer sa COVAX, at yung magandang balita po yan na once na nagkaroon po tayo ng magandang negosasyon sa bilateral (This is one of the largest donations of Pfizer to the COVAX and that’s good news, once we will have positive bilateral negotiation),” he added.

Meanwhile, Galvez said the government is now finalizing contracts and payments with Russia’s pharmaceutical firm Gamaleya Research Institute for the delivery of 20 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Once the contracts are done, he said an initial 20,000 doses of the Gamaleya vaccine will arrive in the country this month. The government is already preparing the delivery simulations and deployment dry run for the Gamaleya vaccine rollout.

Galvez, likewise, said the government this week will sign a supply agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals Companies of Jonhson & Johnson for the delivery of six million doses of Covid-19 jabs.

Galvez, also the country’s vaccine czar, also noted the vaccine deliveries in April are “still on time” with the arrival of 500,000 Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccines last Sunday. Another 1 million CoronaVac jabs will be delivered on April 22 and April 29.

Despite the limited supplies, he said the government exerts all efforts to make sure the country’s vaccine rollout will be unhampered.

The Philippines reached 1,202,297 vaccinees since the vaccination rollout started on March 1, of which 865,541 are healthcare workers, 57,818 senior citizens, and 129,897 persons with comorbidities.