In this illustration file photo taken on November 23, 2020 showing a bottle reading “Vaccine COVID-19” and a syringe next to the Pfizer and BioNtech logos. – An expert committee convened by the US Food and Drug Administration on December 10, 2020, voted heavily in favor of recommending the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use approval. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is negotiating to secure 20 million to 40 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from American drugmaker Pfizer-BioNTech, the country’s vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said Tuesday.
“Natutuwa po kami sa Pfizer because of their commitment. (We welcome Pfizer’s commitment). We are negotiating for more or less 20 million to 40 million. Doses po ito,” Galvez said in an interview onABS-CBN News Channel.
“Napakaganda po, we would like to thank [Philippine Ambassador to the United States] Ambassador [Jose] Romualdez for helping us on this,” he added.
“Minimum po natin is 20 million [doses] sa Pfizer, then we can add more 20 million [doses]. We are very happy that they confirmed yung initial commitment nila,” Galvez said.
Apart from these vaccines which will be procured by the government, the Philippines is also expecting to receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 shots from the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility in the second quarter of this year.