Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Wednesday that there is no final date yet on when the first batch of 117,000 Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX facility would arrive.
“Wala pa po tayo naririnig na balita,” Roque said in a PTV 4 interview.
“Dahil ‘yan po ay ipapadala sa pamamagitan ng eroplano. Ang inaasahan natin ay magbibigay notisiya ang Pfizer sa atin kung naisakay na yang shipment na yan sa eroplano galing sa Brussels [Belgium] papunta ng Pilipinas,” he added.
Early this month, a representative of the World Health Organization to the Philippines said on Monday that 117,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer under the COVAX facility would arrive in the second or third week of February.
However, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said it would be delayed due to a lack of an indemnification fund for vaccine recipients who will experience adverse effects.
On Tuesday, the Philippines has already signed the proposed indemnification agreement of the COVAX facility, which is needed before the first batch of Pfizer vaccines.
“Napirmahan na po namin nina Sec. Duque at saka ni Sec. Dominguez yung proposed COVAX indemnification agreement. Yung bola po nasa kanila ngayon. ‘Yun na po ang ating indemnification agreement ay napag-agree-han na atin pong isumite sa COVAX,” said vaccine czar Carlito Galvez.
No arrival date yet for Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines – Roque
(Sec. Duque and then Sec. Dominguez signed the proposed COVAX indemnification agreement. The ball is in them now. That is, our indemnification agreement has been agreed for by us to submit to COVAX.)
If an indemnification agreement is reached, according to Galvez, there will be no barrier to the arrival of vaccines.
Meanwhile, Roque earlier claimed that the country would secure more than 160 million COVID-19 vaccine dosage from the following within the year:
- 44 million doses from COVAX facility arriving in February
- 25 million doses from Sinovac arriving in February
- 10 to 15 million doses of Gamaleya arriving in April
- 30 million doses of Novavax arriving in May
- 17 million doses of AstraZeneca arriving in May
- 20 million doses of Moderna arriving in July
- 15 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech arriving in August and
- five million from Johnson and Johnson arriving in October.