Photo: Sinovac
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government and Sinovac Biotech are in negotiations for the shipment of one million doses of the CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine this March, a representative of the Chinese pharmaceutical company said Monday.
The Philippines already set aside P700 million for the purchase of these vaccines, Galvez said in a briefing.
“Ang agreement natin sa Sinovac, iyong per PO, ibig sabihin iyong Purchase Order, iyon po ang kanilang proseso eh – so iyong Purchase Order na 1 million, mayroon na po tayong pondo doon, ang pondo po natin doon is P700 million,” Galvez said in a televised briefing.
(Our agreement with Sinovac is per purchase order, that’s their process. So the purchase order for 1 million doses, we have set aside funds for that worth P700 million.)
“So once na napirmahan na po namin iyon, dadating po ang 1 million this coming March po, in tranches po. Nakita po natin iyong 500,000 ay isang malaking eroplano po iyon, so in two tranches po iyon,” he added.
(Once we sign that, one million doses will arrive this March in tranches. There are 500,000 doses that will be delivered by one airplane, and that will be done in two tranches.)
A Sinovac representative has also confirmed the ongoing talks for the possible delivery of one million doses of vaccines to the Philippines.
“We are discussing with the Philippine government to arrange another one million doses in March. We’re working on that,” Sinovac General Manager Helen Yang said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.
“I see that the Philippines government is very tough negotiator that we took some time to develop the plans, strategies. We’re working on that,” she added.
The Philippines already secured 25 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines developed by Sinovac.
Malacañang earlier said these vaccines will be delivered in multiple tranches.
On Sunday, some 600,000 doses of Sinovac’s vaccine donated by the Chinese government arrived in the country.