The government is still evaluating proposals from logistics companies for its P1 billion contract with a third-party service provider for the COVID-19 vaccination program.
Despite this, Ariel Valencia, director of the Department of Health’s (DOH) Supply Chain Management Service, said on Sunday that the government was not behind schedule, adding that there was a contingency plan in place should any of the vaccines arrive by the end of the month.
The P1 billion contract covers the “end-to-end” supply chain, from brokerage, storage and delivery of the vaccines.
A source from the private sector who was privy to the bidding process, however, claimed that the proponents had been “rushed [into submitting their bids] because they (the government) wanted to meet the Feb. 23 [deadline].”
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque earlier said the first 600,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine donated by Chinese drugmaker Sinovac Biotech would arrive on Feb. 23—a date that was “etched in stone.”
But late last week, he backtracked and said the vaccines would not be delivered to the Philippines without an emergency use authorization (EUA) issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
So far, the FDA has issued an EUA only for the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines that the government said would arrive in the country in the middle of February from the global vaccine pool COVAX. The schedule, however, was pushed back due to indemnity issues in case of serious adverse effects.
The source said logistics providers were given a “tight, one-week deadline” to submit their proposals to the DOH until Feb.11 although this was extended to Feb. 15.
Valencia said the bidding details were being handled by the Procurement Service, also under the DOH. “As of last week, evaluation was ongoing. Once [the contract] is awarded, we will sit down and plan [the details],” he added in a phone interview.
Valencia said the supply chain would follow a hub-and-spoke system with a central point and specific routes to any point in the country.
In case the COVID-19 vaccines arrive before then, the backup plan was to use existing DOH or local government freezers.
The Chinese vaccine requires a regular storage temperature of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, but those from Pfizer-BioNTech need ultracold freezers of -70 C to -80 C. INQ