Russia, China in lead as Philippines seeks deals for Covid-19 vaccines

The Philippines is in talks with 10 countries and regions but seems close to conducting late-stage vaccine trials for the Chinese and Russian candidates

American drug maker Pfizer’s vaccine may be challenging to import and it is unclear if President Rodrigo Duterte will approve advance payments to reserve supplies

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Filipinos in personal protective gear wait to enter a government office in Quezon City. The country has recorded more than 400,000 cases of the coronavirus. Photo: AP

Published: 12:30pm, 14 Nov 2020Updated: 11:55am, 10 Dec 2020

As the Philippines battles a coronavirus pandemic that has cost it nearly 8,000 lives out of more than 400,000 cases reported, it is banking on several of the Covid-19 vaccines in late-stage trials by other countries for future respite.

Earlier this week, the country’s newly appointed vaccine tsar, Carlito Galvez, said the government was in talks with 17 vaccine manufacturers from 10 different countries or regions, including China, the US and Russia, about providing a potential vaccine. No deals have yet been struck, however.

Other countries that could supply the vaccine are Australia, Germany, Israel, India, Singapore, Taiwan and Britain, Galvez said, adding that the government’s target is to procure 50 million doses of vaccines for 25 million people out of its 113 million population by next year. Priority will be given to health care workers, frontline government workers and the elderly, he said.

US drug maker Pfizer, which is collaborating with Germany’s BioNTech, has already stepped in to offer its vaccine, according to the Philippine ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez. Earlier this week, the company said the vaccine showed an “extraordinary” 90 per cent rate of effectiveness in early trials.

Romualdez said Pfizer had agreed to sell the vaccine to the Philippines as soon as it is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. The Philippines has yet to finalise pre-orders with Pfizer, however, or with any other vaccine manufacturer.

“We started talking to American firms three to four months ago, and Pfizer was the first one to get in touch,” Romualdez said during a televised news conference. “The good news is the vaccines will be sold to many of their allies, specifically the Philippines, at a not-so-expensive price.”

Romualdez estimated Pfizer could charge the Philippines about US$5 per dose.