MANILA, Philippines (Updated 2:11 p.m.) — The Philippines is set to sign on Wednesday a definitive agreement with US biotech company Novavax for 30 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque confirmed this during a virtual briefing on Tuesday. "Tomorrow, a supply agreement will be signed with Novovax for 30 million [doses of its] vaccines," he said in Filipino.
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National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. is scheduled to fly to India on Tuesday and will remain there until Friday, to secure agreements with Novavax and the Serum Institute of India (SII).
Novavax in January said Phase 3 trials conducted in Britain showed that its vaccine had an efficacy of 89.3%. According to the company, its jab proved 95.6% effective against the original coronavirus strain and 85.6% effective against a more infectious variant that first emerged in the United Kingdom.
Novavax has not yet received authorization for emergency use from the country's Food and Drug Administration.
Gov't locks in 1 million more doses of Sinovac
Roque also announced that the government signed a supply agreement with Chinese Biotech company Sinovac for one million more of its vaccines. The deal will cost the Philippines P700 million.
Sinovac's jabs were the first to arrive in the country after Beijing donated 600,000 of them to the Philippines. The vaccines have been used to inoculate healthcare workers who are below 60 years old.
Only vaccines from Pfizer, Sinovac, and AstraZeneca have been greenlit for emergency use by the FDA. Initial deliveries of 525,600 jabs from AstraZeneca were also completed by the COVAX facility this month, paving the way for the inoculation of more healthcare workers, including those who are senior citizens.
Officials are scrambling to finalize vaccine deals amid the increase of coronavirus cases in the country, with the Department of Health reporting over 3,000 new daily infections four days in a row. Despite the presence of two more infectious COVID-19 variants in the Philippines, the DOH on Monday insisted that the rise is largely due to people's noncompliance with health protocols.
Since the government belatedly kicked off its inoculation effort this month, some 35,669 healthcare workers have been vaccinated as of March 7, according to health department data. — Bella Perez-Rubio with a report from Agence France-Presse