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Two more US biopharmaceutical firms, Moderna and Arcturus, are set to supply between four million and 25 million of their respective COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines, Manila’s top diplomat in Washington said on Friday.
The Philippine Ambassador, José Manuel Romualdez, said that the vaccines will be ready from the third quarter of 2021 if the Philippine government considers that his proposals are acceptable.
“We hope that our government will consider the promising candidates from Moderna and Arcturus for inclusion in our country’s anti-COVID vaccine pool,” Romualdez said in a statement.
A US panel of experts voted to recommend the emergency approval of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, paving the way for six million doses to begin shipping as soon as this weekend.
Now the US Food and Drug Administration is expected to issue an emergency use authorization (US) imminently, which would make Moderna’s vaccine the second to be approved in a Western country.
Romualdez’s comments came amid allegations that Health Secretary Francisco Duque III ruined the process of obtaining at least 10 million Pfizer vaccines by January 2021 by allegedly delaying the filing of a mandatory confidentiality agreement with the firm. American.
Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo helped facilitate the alleged delivery of the vaccines to the Philippines in early 2021.
Without naming Duque, Locsin on Twitter said someone “dropped the ball” about the delivery of the Pfizer vaccine. Later, Senator Panfilo Lacson named Duque the one who made the mistake, causing the Philippines to miss the opportunity to secure the vaccine, which showed 95% efficacy with no serious side effects.
“They could have secured the delivery of 10 million Pfizer vaccines in January next year, well ahead of Singapore if it weren’t for the indifference of Secretary Duque, who failed to meet the necessary documentary requirement, namely the disclosure agreement of confidentiality (CDA) as it should have, ”Lacson said.
Duque has denied that he spoiled the delivery and Malacanang said that President Roddrigo Duterte does not see “any major error” on the part of the health secretary.
Some countries such as the UK, the US and Singapore have already approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for local use.
The Duterte administration, which has cultivated warmer ties with China amid territorial disputes in the South China Sea, seeks to finalize negotiations with Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech to purchase 25 million doses of its vaccine by March 2021.
Philippine officials said vaccines made in China are the country’s first choice as they await commitments from other pharmaceutical companies.
With nearly 455,000 infections and more than 8,850 deaths, the Philippines has the second highest number of cases and deaths in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia. –with Agence France-Presse
