The vaccine deal is seen as offering a confidence boost to PH’s economy

After weeks of negotiations, around 30 companies and business groups that came together to assist in the country’s response to COVID-19 were able to secure 2.6 million doses of a promising vaccine from British-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca, achieving a agreement before the government. as the private sector grows “desperate to open the economy safely” amid the pandemic.

Government medical experts, however, are seeking more details on the vaccine amid doubts about the data coming from the multinational company that worked in conjunction with the University of Oxford.

About 1.5 million people, or about 1 percent of the country’s 108 million people, are expected to benefit from the tripartite agreement signed Friday by Presidential Advisor for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepción, the executive of AstraZeneca. , Lotis Ramin, and the head of the National Task Force against COVID-19. Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr.

AstraZeneca has a zero profit program in 2021, which means vaccines are priced as low as possible. The vaccine is expected to cost about P500 ($ 10) for two doses, Concepción’s office said in a statement.

The cost of the vaccine donations, which will be borne by the private sector, will be divided in half between government leaders vetted by the Department of Health (DOH) and employees of private companies, including contract workers.

“I am amazed at how many industries came together to make this happen. It started with an initiative email from BDO (Banco de Oro) that led us to talk with them and with Mr. Joey Concepción, ”said Ramin, country president of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Philippines Inc.

“[Having] 2.5 million doses is a great start, but it’s definitely not enough. That’s how desperate the private sector is trying to really open up the economy safely, ”Concepción said at the post-signing press conference.

When asked how they decided to limit the volume to 2.6 million doses, Concepción said: “There is no real limit. It was a question of how much we can generate. In four weeks, we raised P600 million. I did not expect to get that amount. It can go even further, but its (AstraZeneca) deadline is November 30. “

Concepción said that several companies that had started buying the vaccines were from the food and retail sectors, “where the exhibition [to the virus] is the most.”

PENDING APPROVAL With the private sector initiative to secure AstraZeneca vaccine doses, Chief Implementer Carlito Gálvez Jr. of the National COVID-19 Task Force has expressed “confidence” in the vaccine under development. —REUTERS

‘The way to follow’

“For the owners of these businesses, if they can show that they have vaccinated perhaps not all but most of their workers, then more people will shop in these stores rather than in the areas that are not being vaccinated,” he said.

“The way forward, as I see it, is in a shopping center. If all retailers and avant-garde are vaccinated, the level of safety will increase, ”he added.

“This is better than nothing. It is an opportunity to really open up the economy. It’s an opportunity to regain confidence, ”Concepción said.

Gálvez said that 50 percent of the guaranteed doses for the private sector would go to “working poor,” such as fast food employees, security guards and drivers.

“This is because, while we want to contain the pandemic, we must also protect our economy. It is hoped that vaccinating these workers will reassure consumers that mall workers are protected and not infected, “said the official who also serves as the country’s” vaccine czar. “

Gálvez also recognized that it was easier for the private sector to have access to vaccines since “private processes [are] much easier while the government processes [are] very strict, because we have many regulatory requirements. In particular, we have some challenges [in] our acquisitions program in the Philippines. “

“We are confident in the vaccine that AstraZeneca is developing. Over the years, it has earned a reputation for producing high-quality drugs and vaccines, which are used around the world, ”he added.

Request

In addition to signing the tripartite agreement, the company is currently seeking government approval to conduct large-scale phase 3 trials in the country.

Dr. Jaime Montoya, executive director of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, said the Philippines is the only nation in Southeast Asia where the company will test its vaccine candidate.

He added that the government’s Vaccine Expert Panel, which he heads, had just started reviewing AstraZeneca’s application.

Just days after Oxford-AstraZeneca announced that its candidate vaccine was, on average, 70 percent effective against COVID-19, questions arose about how it presented its data. This was after the company disclosed an error in one of its study dosing regimens.

That low-dose trial, which was 90 percent effective, also did not include any participants older than 55, the group considered to be at the highest risk for COVID-19.

But Montoya said concerns about AstraZeneca’s data are “just a matter of numbers and the basis for those numbers.”

The Undersecretary of Health, María Rosario Vergeire, agreed and said that the findings were only a “matter of numbers and inclusion of other sectors of the population.”

AstraZeneca has a “responsibility to provide adequate information on these allegations with respect to its study,” Vergeire added.

Virus case update

On Friday, DOH recorded an additional 1,631 cases, bringing the number of cases nationwide to 425,918.

Quezon City reported the highest number of new infections, 116, followed by Rizal province (101), Davao City (95), Laguna (89) and Manila (65).

Another 370 patients have recovered, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors in the country to 387,616.

However, the death toll rose to 8,255 when 46 patients succumbed to the severe respiratory illness.

Recoveries and deaths left the country with 30,047 active cases, of which 84.3 are mild, 8.3 percent asymptomatic, 0.26 percent moderate, 2.5 percent severe, and 4.7 percent critical. —WITH REPORTS FROM PATRICIA DENISE M. CHIU AND LEILA B. SALAVERRIA

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