Concepcion: Over 500 companies to participate in Novavax briefing

MANILA — After the “A Dose of Hope” initiative that secured around 17 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the country, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion said that more than 500 companies will participate in their organized briefing on Thursday (February 11) with Faberco Life Sciences Inc. which has the distribution rights for Novavax in the Philippines.

Novavax is an American vaccine development company with efficacy rate of 89.3 percent. Faberco, which will handle the National Government and LGU orders, has appointed United Laboratories, Inc. (Unilab) to handle the procurement of the private sector.

“Luckily, we have already secured our doses with AstraZeneca. We are fortunate that Lotis Ramin and the whole of AstraZeneca in the Philippines has done their utmost effort just to secure the doses for the country. Now, with Novavax, they have offered our country an equitable and great offer and I am encouraging the private sector to look at this developing initiative. Unilab will handle the orders from the private sector and Faberco will handle both the government and LGU orders. We are in full support of this partnership,” Concepcion said.

Go Negosyo, through the “A Dose of Hope” program, has been at the forefront of engaging the private sector to partner with the public sector—developing the first tripartite agreement with the government, the only one of its kind around the world. Concepcion continues to find ways to secure vaccines for the country as the need never stops and the demand continuously surges.

“Our economic problem is induced by a health issue, the COVID-19 pandemic. The only solution is the vaccine which will give us the chance to eliminate, if not, drastically slow down the transmission of the virus. Now, it’s the time for every qualified Filipino to respond to this call of duty and take the vaccine. We will serve like soldiers in this war and our gun is the vaccine. If everyone suits up, we will be able to beat COVID-19 and open up the economy much more—allowing industries which have been greatly affected like the tourism, retail, and restaurant sector, among others, to come back,” Concepcion added.