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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 16) – The deal for the Philippines to get 10 million doses of Pfizer vaccines will be carried out despite the fact that “someone dropped the ball,” which previously put the deal in jeopardy, a Filipino envoy said.
The Philippine Ambassador to the United States, José Manuel “Babe” Romualdez, made the clarification on Wednesday after the controversial tweet by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Teodoro Locsin Jr., that they were able to ensure that millions of doses of vaccines reach the country in January of 2021, but plans were frustrated because “someone dropped the ball. “
Romualdez said the arrival of the vaccine will be delayed for a few months because other nations were able to finalize agreements earlier.
“We only pushed back the delivery date, possibly June next year, because (we) were not acting fast enough on the CDA (Confidential Disclosure Agreement). Other countries got ahead of us like Singapore,” he said in a text message to CNN Philippines. . .
When asked about the identity of the person who “dropped the ball,” he replied, “I’m sure you know who at DOH.”
When asked if it was Health Secretary Francisco Duque III who jeopardized the deal, he replied: “No comment :-)”
If the deal brokered by Philippine officials and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had stayed on schedule, Pfizer would have been the first coronavirus vaccine to reach the country. To date, only the vaccine produced by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech has been licensed for emergency use overseas, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore.
The Duterte administration is still confident that the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine will be the first vaccine to reach the Philippines. Roque said Tuesday that Sinovac is the only brand that can provide supply as soon as possible, which is in March or April 2021. The government is looking to secure up to 25 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine, even if the Chinese drugmaker has It has not yet disclosed the results of its phase 3 clinical trials to show that it is safe and effective.
So far, the country has formally secured 2.6 million doses of vaccines from British drugmaker AstraZeneca, expected to arrive in the second quarter of 2021. The deal was closed through a € 600 million donation from more than 30 companies. private. The company also agreed to provide another batch of vaccines, authorities said.
CNN Philippine correspondent Tristan Nodalo contributed to this report.
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