The Philippine government officially received confirmation that the country will qualify for 30 to 40 million free doses of Covid-19 vaccines from the Gavi vaccine alliance COVAX facility.
In an online press briefing, Carlito G. Galvez, chief implementer of the government’s national policy on Covid-19, disclosed the Covax already published the confirmation of country’s participation in its services.
“We are happy with this news so we are now preparing our cold chain facilities [for the arrival of the doses],” Galvez said.
The Covax is being manager by Gavi, a Geneva-based international public-private organization, which aims to facilitate the distribution of vaccines nationwide, particularly in poor countries.
Among the vaccines enrolled in the Covax are those from Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson.
The vaccine from Pfizer and AstraZeneca are currently among the top list of vaccines being sought after by the government for its Covid-19 inoculation drive due to its efficacy and approval in other countries.
Galvez said they anticipate the free vaccines from Covax to arrive next month.
“For now, we have definite information what vaccine will be deployed [for the country’s use], but most likely this will be Pfizer,” Galvez said.
He said they are targeting to complete the negotiation with the company with the necessary cold chain facility this month.
The vaccine czar said this necessary since the Pfizer-BionTech vaccine requires a negative 70 to 80 Celsius to maintain its efficacy.
Galvez noted the vaccine, which will come from the Covax facility will be on top of the 148 doses of Covid-19 vaccine, which were secured by the government with its bilateral talks with pharmaceutical firms and other governments.
This, he said, was a a measure of the government to ensure the country will get Covid-19 vaccine to roll out its vaccination drive in case there will be delay in the delivery of vaccines from Covax.