Getting AstraZeneca vaccine still ‘doable’ even with company pullout from trial

At least 2.6 million COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca may still be available in the Philippines next year even though the drug company had already withdrawn its application to do clinical trials in the country, a Go Negosyo official said on Monday.

“[It] should still be doable,” Josephine Romero, Go Negosyo adviser, said in a Viber message, citing information she heard from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a recent interview.

“[AstraZeneca] continues to work very closely with the regulatory and government bodies to ensure that the vaccines are allowed into the country before they even start shipping to the Philippines,” Romero said.

Vaccine to be donated

The private sector, represented by Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion, signed the supply deal with AstraZeneca Philippines last month. All 2.6 million doses would be donated, with 1.5 million people expected to benefit from it.

Half of the donations will be for government medical front-liners and the other half, for employees in the private sector, including both regular and contractual workers.

Concepcion earlier said that due to overwhelming demand, AstraZeneca was accepting more orders from the Philippine private sector.

“We are happy to announce that with enough support, and of course, demand coming from the private sector, the second [batch] is now already in the works. The signing we did few weeks ago made into several headlines and we received several inquiries from the private sector asking for more allocation, hence, a request to AstraZeneca to hopefully allow us to have a second batch,” he said in a statement.

Concepcion, however, did not respond to requests for comment. He did not reply when asked how other private businesses could donate to the initiative. INQ