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The most important names in the Philippine business community signed on Friday, November 27, 2020, a tripartite agreement for the acquisition of 2.6 million doses of the possible AstraZeneca vaccine against the 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Presidential Advisor for Entrepreneurship Jose Ma. Concepción III said that around 1.5 million Filipinos will benefit from this agreement and half of them would be private sector leaders.
This is the first vaccine procurement agreement signed in the Philippines, after President Rodrigo Duterte allowed the signing of Advance Market Commitments (AMC).
However, shortly before the signing, the Undersecretary of the Department of Health, María Rosario Vergeire, said that AstraZeneca has been asked to explain the alleged errors in the clinical trials of its candidate vaccine.
He said they were waiting for an official statement from the British pharmaceutical company.
“We are waiting for the manufacturer because he has that responsibility,” Vergeire said at a virtual press conference on Friday.
She said that even the Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) and the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) are waiting for AstraZeneca’s explanation.
“That is also their request, that they get more information so that they can further study the implications of this,” Vergeire said.
Tripartite agreement
The tripartite agreement was signed between Concepción, the vaccine czar Carlito Gálvez Jr., the president of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Philippines Inc., Lotis Ramin, and the donors.
Teresita Sy-Coson, president of BDO Unibank and the BDO Foundation that initiated the donation, said in her message that the acquisition agreement is important despite skepticism about the vaccine.
He said this will help protect those on the front lines in the short term and help the government reach its vaccination goal in the medium term.
The government’s goal is to immunize 60 to 75 million Filipinos over the next three years to achieve herd immunity against Covid-19.
Other private sector donors are Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, president and CEO of Ayala Corporation; Lance Gokongwei, CEO of JG Summit Holdings Corporation and president of the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation; Ramon Ang, president and chief operating officer of San Miguel Corporation; Enrique Razón, president of International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI); and Manuel Pangilinan, president of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation.
Others who collaborated and attended the signing ceremony were Lopez Group, Philippine National Bank, Philippine Franchise Association, LBC Express, Udenna Corporation, Aboitiz Corporation, AC Health, Penshoppe, Philippine TransMarine Carriers Group, GT Capital Holdings, Wilcon Depot, Magsaysay People Resource Corporation, Yazaki Torres Manufacturing, Filinvest Corporation and EastWest Bank, Jollibee Group, Double Dragon Properties and MerryMart, Mercury Drug Corporation, Seaoil Philippines, Concepcion Industrial Corporation, Bounty Agro Ventures Inc., Century Properties Group and the Federation of Philippine Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
The vaccines are expected to be delivered in May or June 2021. Each dose costs $ 5, the lowest price for a possible Covid-19 vaccine.
Clinical trials
AstraZeneca has submitted an application to conduct clinical trials for its candidate vaccine in the Philippines.
Jaime Montoya, executive director of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, said the Philippines is the only country in Southeast Asia that AstraZeneca observes its clinical trials.
He said they were waiting for AstraZeneca to present its data on its clinical trials.
“You know, we have no way to verify it until they present their official documents that we will have to verify based on the data they will present. As I understand it, they are currently evaluating and analyzing where the errors occurred and why they happened.
However, he said he does not anticipate any effect on the vaccine’s effectiveness.
“It’s just a question of numbers and the basis for such numbers,” he added.
AstraZeneca previously reported that the AZD1222 vaccine it is developing with the University of Oxford is “highly effective” in preventing Covid-19 based on an interim analysis of clinical trials in the UK and Brazil.
The researchers found that the efficacy is higher when the vaccine is given in one and a half doses instead of the usual two doses.
Reports claimed this was established after a batch of volunteers were accidentally administered only half the dose initially.
AstraZeneca said the vaccine was 90 percent effective when given as a half dose, followed by a full dose at least a month apart.
Efficacy was 62 percent when given in two full doses separated by at least one month.
Combined analysis of both dosage regimens resulted in an average efficacy of 70 percent, the company added.
No hospitalizations or severe cases of the disease were reported in the 131 clinical trial participants. (Marites Villamor-Ilano with HDT / SunStar Philippines)
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