Sinovac eyes delivery of 1 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses this month
MANILA, Philippines — One million doses more of COVID-19 vaccines developed by Sinovac Biotech may be delivered to the Philippines this month, an executive of the Chinese drug maker said Monday.
"We're discussing with the Philippine government to arrange another one million doses in March, we’re working on that," Sinovac general manager Helen Yang told ABS-CBN News Channel.
"I see the Philippine government are very tough negotiators that we took sometime to develop the plans, strategies," she added.
The Philippines received 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines on Sunday. The first COVID-19 shots delivered to the country were a donation from China.
The Duterte administration will buy 25 million doses from the Chinese company, enough to inoculate more than 12 million Filipinos.
Yang said the Sinovac jabs are safe and have been tested in China, Turkey, Brazil, Indonesia and Chile.
"The vaccine showed a good safety profile and strong efficacy results to prevent the severe cases and could lower down the burdens of the health care system," Yang said.
"We sincerely hope that the Philippines will start to use the vaccine and help reboot the economy," she added.
The efficacy rate of Sinovac-manufactured jabs only stood at 50.4% among health workers who were exposed to COVID-19 but officials have claimed it is still effective against the virus.
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