MANILA, Philippines — Only “major cities” in the country may get the coronavirus vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer due to shortage of cold-chain storage facilities, Malacañang said Monday.
In his regular Palace press briefing, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Pfizer’s vaccine against COVID-19 needs to be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius – facilities which he said are limited in the country and only available in big, developed cities.
“Sa mga mayroong colonial mentality na gustong Pfizer, puwede po kayong maghintay, pero ang ating warning po eh talaga diyan lang po iyan mabibigay dito sa Pilipinas sa mga major na siyudad dahil wala naman talaga tayong cold chain capacity outside Metro Manila,” Roque said.
This is after Roque announced that the Philippines has secured 25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech, a part of which is expected to arrive by February.
He also confirmed the recent signing of the term sheet for the supply of 30 million doses of Indian-made Covovax vaccine to the Philippines.
The new deals will augment the 2.6 million doses of vaccine procured by local private firms from British drugmaker AstraZeneca.
The government is also in negotiations with US firms Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, China’s Sinopharm, and Russia’s Gamaleya Institute for more doses of COVID-19 jabs.