FILE PHOTO: A health worker draws a dose of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine from a vial during a vaccination event hosted by Miami – Dade County and Miami Heat, at FTX Arena in Miami, Florida, U.S., August 5, 2021. REUTERS/Marco Bello/File Photo
MANILA, Philippines — The government is in talks with four vaccine manufacturers to possibly secure COVID-19 booster shots that may be supplied as early as the first quarter of 2022, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said Thursday.
“We are now negotiating with four manufacturers that possibly, they can supply boosters either by the end of the fourth quarter or early first quarter,” Galvez said in an interview with CNN Philippines. He did not identify the four vaccine manufacturers.
“We are prepared as said by the Secretary of Finance, we have allocated already P45 billion for possible payments for the negotiations of boosters,” he added.
READ: Gov’t allots P45.3B for booster shots
However, Galvez noted they are awaiting guidance from the Department of Health, the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group, and the vaccine expert panels on the administration of booster shots.
The World Health Organization earlier said there is no need for booster shots for now as the most vulnerable people worldwide should be fully vaccinated first.
“As long as they say ‘we need boosters,’ we can make some sort of arrangement. We’re now trying to have yung tinatawag natin na term sheet, we are looking at the possibility of signing some term sheet, non-binding term sheet to lock in boosters,” Galvez said.
Earlier, Galvez said Chinese drug firm Sinovac BioTech already expressed its intent to donate 500,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to be administered as booster shots to the country’s health workers.