[ad_1]
The government will soon close the deal to purchase 30 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from Novavax.
In President Duterte’s public address on Monday, the government’s chief executor of the government’s national policy on Covid-19, Carlito G. Galvez, will meet with the representative of the Serum Institute of India (SII), the maker of the Novavax vaccine, to finalize the details. of said agreement.
He said that the SII country representative has already committed to provide the country with 30 million doses of Novavax.
The SII agreed to carry out the transaction without the need for any advance cash payment in accordance with the Republic Law 9814 or the Public Procurement Law, according to Gálvez.
“This means that all of our transactions [with SII] it will be flexible. And the [SII country manager] it will comply with its guidance that there will be no cash advances, ”said Gálvez.
Gálvez said they also hope to complete the deal with AstraZeneca next week for the purchase of 20 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine.
Of which 10 million doses will go to the private sector, while the remaining 10 million will be used by local government units.
“We are awaiting regulatory clearance from the UK Health Ministry before we finally sign the contract,” said Gálvez.
Second batch
If both agreements are signed this month, Gálvez said he expects the Novavax and Astra Zeneca vaccines to arrive by the second and third quarters of 2021.
The vaccine czar previously said his goal is to secure the initial batch of Covid-19 vaccines for the first quarter of next year from Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and the Gamaleya Research Institute.
Gálvez did not give any updates on his negotiations for the purchase of the Covid-19 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is also supposed to be completed before the second quarter.
None other than Duterte said that currently Pfizer-BioNTech does not have an available supply of its vaccines to sell to the government.
“It remains to be seen when they will have more [vaccine supplies]”Duterte said.
The Secretary of Foreign Relations, Teodoro Locsin Jr., previously accused the Secretary of Health, Francisco Duque III, of “dropping the ball” with respect to the preliminary negotiation carried out by the Department of Foreign Relations (DFA) to secure 10 million euros. doses of Pfizer-BionTech vaccines.
Duque denied the accusation and said he was not responsible for the delay in approving the transaction.
The government is also considering purchasing Pfizer-BionTech vaccines for the second quarter of 2021.
On Monday, Locsin told CNN Philippines that talks with Moderna Inc., another US-based vaccine maker, will begin on December 30.
