MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government and private firms will be signing an agreement with British drugmaker AstraZeneca for two million doses of its coronavirus vaccine, the country’s vaccine czar announced Thursday.
Carlito Galvez, a former general who also heads the task force against the coronavirus, told a news briefing that the deal will be signed Friday.
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Details from Galvez on the tripartite deal were scant, but Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said in a statement that the private sector will be donating to the government 2.5 million to 3 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, costing somewhere between P600 million and P700 million.
The following firms would be donating AstraZeneca vaccine doses to the government, according to Concepcion:
- International Container Terminal Services, Inc.
- BDO Unibank
- First Philippine Holdings Corporation
- Go Negosyo
- LT Group, Inc.
- San Miguel Corporation
- Metro Pacific Investments Corporation
- Universal Leaf Philippines Inc.
- LBC Express Holdings Inc.
- Udenna Corp.
- GT Capital Holdings Inc.
- Wilcon Depot Inc.
- Ayala Healthcare Holdings Inc.
- Aboitiz Equity Ventures
- Golden ABC Inc.
- Mercury Drug Corp.
- Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry
- Yazaki-Torres Manufacturing Inc.
- Bounty Fresh Food Inc.
- RFM Corp.
- Concepcion Industries
- Jollibee Foods Corp.
- Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce Phils. Inc.
- Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Inc.
- Magsaysay Maritime Corp.
- Nova Group
- Alliance Global, Inc.
- JG Summit Holdings, Inc.
- Philippine Franchise Association
- Double Dragon/MerryMart
- Filinvest Development Corp.
- Lotis Shoppe
- Century Properties Group
- Bench
- CDO
- Mercedez Benz
- Rustans
- Megaworld
- SEAOIL Philippines
The government will not be spending in this first deal to procure a coronavirus vaccine, as private firms would be shouldering the cost of buying the coveted drug. Companies will be buying doses of the vaccine for their employees to be inoculated and will be donating a portion of these doses to the government.
The deal for two million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine is also separate from the 20 million doses the government eyes to buy from the drugmaker using public money. Galvez said the government targets to finalize the agreement for this within the month.
The government targets to vaccinate 60% to 75% of the population in three to five years in hopes to achieve herd immunity — the point wherein most of the population is already immune from a disease so that the whole community is protected from it.
Experts, however, are cautious in saying that vaccination alone against COVID-19 would produce herd immunity, as many factors are still unknown about the disease and its spread, and the vaccines that are supposed to protect against it.
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AstraZeneca has said that its COVID-19 vaccine, if given in two doses, could be as much as 90% effective. It is a much more attractive option compared to other coronavirus vaccine candidates like that of Pfizer and Moderna, as it is cheaper and is easier to distribute.
The British-Swedish drugmaker has also applied to conduct clinical trials of their vaccine in the Philippines.
The government said it will be spending some P73 billion for its vaccination drive against the coronavirus, financed by multilateral and bilateral loans, and government appropriations.
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