The Philippine government has struck a deal for 40 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccines.
The vaccines will be delivered after eight weeks from August for distribution in bulk, Vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr, announced on June 20.
A total of 8,050,711 doses of different brands had been administered nationwide so far as of June 20.
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Galvez further said that since vaccine demand had reduced in many countries which had vaccinated majority of their population, this had enabled the manufacturer to give the Philippines further deliveries in bulk.
The COVAX facility also committed to delivering a total of 44 million doses to the country this year.
He said that with the Pfizer and COVAX deals, the Philippines has arranged for delivery of 157 million doses, including 26 million doses from Sinovac, 10 million from Sputnik V, 20 million from Moderna and 17 million from Astrazeneca.
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To date, negotiations are still ongoing to acquire 16 million doses from Novavax and Johnson & Johnson.
Galvez also said that Pfizer vaccines would significantly boost the Philippines national immunization program in its aim to achieve herd immunity by year-end. He further said that this was another positive development in ensuring a happy and better Christmas for all Filipinos. (AW)
