Pfizer Expected To Arrive First In Philippines Earlier Than Sinovac
PFIZER EXPECTED TO ARRIVE FIRST – Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr, the vaccine czar of the Philippines said Pfizer may arrive earlier than Sinovac.
Recently, the government announced procuring 25 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine. However, recent trials in Brazil revealed a 50.4% efficacy against COVID-19.
As such, frontliners and medical experts in the Philippines raised concerns about the vaccine circulating in the country. Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque emphasized that the Filipino people shouldn’t be picky when it comes to vaccines.
But, amid the criticisms, Galvez said that there was a possibility for Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine to arrive in the country first. According to a report from ABS-CBN, this could be possible through the COVAX facility.
This is a platform that makes vaccines more accessible. During an interview on ANC’s headstart, Galvez said:
“Baka mauna ang Pfizer because the Covax facility will be deploying an early rollout of Pfizer… Natutuwa po kami kasi 20 million people will benefit from these free vaccines”.
However, Galvez did not disclose how many doses of Pfizer’s vaccine would be arriving if ever it came before Sinovac. Meanwhile, for February, 50,000 doses of Sinovac’s vaccine is already expected to arrive in the Philippines.
Afterward, 950,000 doses of the vaccine would arrive in March and 1 million for April and may, and then 2 million for June and 3 million for July said Galvez.
But, among the other concerns for Sinovac was its price. Despite having a low efficacy rate, earlier reports revealed Sinovac was more expensive compared to other vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna.
However, Galvez, despite not revealing the exact price of Sinovac, said the Philippines got the vaccine “at a good price”.