Davao, Valenzuela cities forge supply deals with AstraZeneca

DAVAO CITY—After securing a commitment from the UK vaccine maker AstraZeneca for the purchase of vaccines against COVID-19, the city government is still eyeing more deals with other vaccine makers for the inoculation of at least 70 percent of the population here.

“We already got the commitment from AstraZeneca to give us opportunity to buy vaccines from them,” Mayor Sara Duterte said in a radio interview. “But there’s no [single] company yet that can give us all the doses [that we need] so, we will talk to [as] many vaccine makers [as we can], especially those who have intent to apply for EUA (emergency use authorization),” she said.

The city government has not set a limit to its vaccination budget so as to cover 1.2 million people, or 70 percent of the city’s population.

“There is no [budget] ceiling because our target is to achieve herd immunity,” Duterte said.

She said the city secured the commitment from AstraZeneca during a meeting with city officials on Friday but she could not disclose other information yet about the deal as this would be covered by the nondisclosure agreement that the city was about to sign with the company.

The deal with AstraZeneca will be covered by the agreement that the city will be signing with the national government and the vaccine maker.

“The timeline [for the arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be in the] third quarter of 2021 … It will be delivered in tranches,” she said.

Valenzuela City on Sunday announced that it has also struck a deal with AstraZeneca for the purchase of vaccines for 320,000 residents.

According to Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian, the deal covers 640,000 doses—two perresident—and are expected to arrive by the second half of 2021.

The planned procurement will cover around 70 percent of the city’s population, excluding minors, he added. The city has allotted an initial budget of P150 million.

Talks with AstraZeneca began last week, shortly after the Christmas break, Gatchalian said.

“The price per dose is the lowest there is for such vaccine since this was procured through the IATF-DOH,” he added, referring to their agreement with AstraZeneca.

The Philippine government has moved to secure 30 million doses of an Indian-sourced COVID-19 vaccine that is expected to become available in the third quarter of the year.

National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief Carlito Galvez Jr. signed a term sheet over the weekend with the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Faberco Life Sciences for the supply of 30 million doses of Covovax.—With reports from Germelina Lacorte, Leah Agonoy, Krixia Subingsubing and Jeannette I. Andrade INQ