PH to sign COVID-19 vaccine deal with AstraZeneca on Friday

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government, together with local private companies, will sign a tripartite agreement with British drugmaker AstraZeneca on Friday for the purchase of its COVID-19 vaccine.

The country’s vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said during a televised Palace press briefing Thursday that 2 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine will be purchased under the deal.

“This coming Friday pipirma po tayo ng tripartite agreement na kung saan tayo po ay makakabili ng dalawang milyong doses ng bakuna mula sa AstraZeneca ng United Kingdom. Kasama po natin ang pribadong sektor na nagdonate nito,” Galvez said.

Astra Zeneca earlier said its COVID-19 vaccine was 70% effective in pivotal trials and could be up to 90% effective, and can be cheaper to make, easier to distribute and faster to scale-up than rivals.

The government is looking to administer vaccines to at least 60 million Filipinos to achieve herd immunity to limit virus transmission in the country.

Earlier, Galvez, a former military chief who is in charge of strategy to fight the coronavirus, said the government was also in talks with Pfizer Inc. and China’s Sinovac for possible vaccine supply deals.

EDV