PH, Pfizer ink deal for 20 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses

By: Daniza Fernandez - 2 years ago

MANILA, Philippines — The national government and Pfizer-BioNTech have signed an amendment to its prior supply deal for the procurement of 20 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses, the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 said.

In a statement released Sunday, the NTF said that with the additional purchase, the country’s total order from Pfizer is 60 million doses for 2021 and 2022.

“We are very happy with this development, as it will substantially increase our current vaccine supply inventory. These 20 million Pfizer doses are in addition to the 40 million shots we had secured for the country earlier this year,” NTF Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. was quoted as saying on Saturday.

“With these additional doses, we can ensure the sustainability of our National Vaccination Program, and hit the vaccination targets we have set not only for this year, but for 2022 as well,” he added.

According to the vaccine czar, this recent purchase will be used as booster doses and for minors or new vaccine information subject to Food and Drug Administration.

Galvez said that the procured doses will be financed through the Philippines COVID-19 Emergency Response Project, an additional financing loan which the national government secured from the World Bank in March.

Meanwhile, Pfizer Philippines Interim Country Manager Edilberto Reyes said that the additional 20 million doses will be delivered to the country beginning January 2022, based on a monthly schedule.

To date, a total of 142,153,340 COVID-19 vaccine doses have arrived in the country since February. Of the figure, at least 92 million doses are procured by the government.

Based on the Department of Health’s COVID-19 vaccination dashboard, 35,557,409 individuals are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while 45,286,049 people have received their first dose as of November 27.

Meantime, administration of booster shots reached 174,536.