PH to receive 2.3M Pfizer jabs ‘not later than June’

MANILA – National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 chief implementer Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. on Thursday said the Philippines will receive 2.35 million Pfizer vaccines through COVAX facility co-lead by World Health Organization (WHO) and Gavi Alliance.

“Ito po ang isang magandang balita. Binigyan po tayo ng isang letter ng COVAX at Gavi na mayroon daw po tayong matatanggap na 2,355,210 na COVAX Pfizer and hopefully magkakaroon po tayo ng mga sunud-sunod na mga development at mga (This is the good news, the COVAX and GAVI gave us a letter that we will be receiving 2,355,210 COVAX Pfizer vaccine and hopefully we could have a continuous development on) deliveries this coming July and August,” Galvez said during the virtual Palace press briefing.

Galvez, also the country’s vaccine czar, said the government and the pharmaceutical firm Pfizer-BioNTech are currently having fruitful negotiations on “indemnity and immunity clause.”

“Nagkaroon na po ng tinatawag na clarification from our DOJ [Department of Justice]. So naibigay na po namin iyong dalawang DOJ opinion at sa ngayon nakita natin na positive ang naging result, na nagkaroon na po ng communication sa atin ang COVAX na magdi-deliver na po sila ng 2.3 million doses (There has been a so-called clarification from our DOJ so we have provided them two DOJ opinions and we’ve seen a positive result, we received a communication from COVAX that they will be delivering 2.3 million doses of Pfizer vaccines),” he said.

In the letter, Galvez said the 2.35 million already includes the 117,000 doses of Pfizer jabs that were supposed to arrive in the country last February.

“Yes, mas lumaki lang yung delivery (the delivery just got bigger),” he said, adding the 2.35 million will arrive “not later than June.”

Galvez thanked the Pfizer company for not withdrawing its offer despite confronting legal challenges on the supply agreement.

“Even though may mga delays tayo, iyong tinatawag na delivery time hindi nila binago. Ang kanilang offer na 25 million, tinaasan pa nila ng 40 million doses (Even though we have delays, Pfizer’s delivery time has not changed. Their initial offer of 25 million doses has been increased to 40 million doses),” he said.

Galvez disclosed that the Pfizer vaccine is one of the lowest prices next to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“Ang ganda ng presyo niya sa atin, kumbaga sa presyo na binigay sa atin, hindi niya po tinaas (They gave us a good price, they did not even raise the price),”he said.

Galvez reiterated the delays in vaccine delivery were due to high global demand but limited supply.

The Philippines has so far received 4,025,600 vaccines — 3.5 million doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine and 525,600 AstrsZeneca jabs.