Moderna, AstraZeneca no longer taking orders; private sector eyes Novavax

FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a small bottle labeled with a “Coronavirus COVID-19 Vaccine” sticker and a medical syringe in front of displayed Novavax logo in this illustration taken, October 30, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

MANILA, Philippines — As AstraZeneca and Moderna are no longer taking orders for its vaccines, presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said the private sector is now eyeing to secure doses of the vaccine developed by Novavax.

Both Moderna and Novavax are American biotechnology firms while AstraZeneca is a British pharmaceutical company. Novavax is manufactured in India.

In a televised briefing on Tuesday, Concepcion said Moderna “already committed their full allocation so they’re not taking orders.”

“Yung AstraZeneca rin wala nang ma-supply. ‘Yung 17 million, yun na yung huling order. Kinausap ko sila sa batch 3, ayaw na nila kasi talagang kulang na kulang ang supply nila sa Europe,” he claimed.

(AstraZeneca also has no supply. The order for 17 million doses is the last one. I talked to them about possibly getting a third batch of orders but they refused since their supply in Europe is really lacking.)

The Philippine government, private sector and local government units earlier signed a tripartite agreement to secure 17 million doses of vaccines from AstraZeneca. Some 300 companies and 39 LGUs from across the country pitched in for the purchase of these vaccines.

“So dito na lang sa Novavax, isang magaling na vaccine, ang pwede. Habang maaga pa, mag-order na sila,” Concepcion encouraged business owners.

(They can order from Novavax which is also a great vaccine. Order as early as now.)

He explained that securing vaccines from Novavax will also be through a tripartite agreement with the national government.

“Sa unang briefing na dumalo ang 800 companies, marami ang interesado. Ngayon, pumapasok ang mga letters of intent na maraming gusto kumuha ng Novavax vaccines,” Concepcion added.

(During the first briefing, some 800 companies attended and many of them are interested. We are now receiving letters of intent that they want to get Novavax vaccines.)

Last month, Unilab, Inc. and Faberco Life Sciences, Inc. partnered to distribute Novavax’s vaccines in the Philippines.

Unilab will handle the private sector’s procurement while Faberco will handle the national government and local government units’ orders.

Novavax has said that its vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India has an efficacy rate of 89.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the Philippines was earlier assured of at least 30 million doses of Novavax’s vaccine.

EDV