Sinovac Biotech General Manager Helen Yang said Monday that the price of CoronaVac that would be sold in the Philippines is reasonable.
“Definitely we are not the highest expensive ones because the mission for Sinovac is to provide the vaccine at an affordable price,” Yang said in an interview on CNN- Philippines.
“For [the] Philippines, we do committed to providing a favorable price but unfortunately, I’m not in the position to discuss this confidential information at this moment. But I will be assuring you that this is a very good price that we provided to the Philippines,” she added.
Earlier, Palace spokesperson Harry Roque said Sunday that CoronaVac will only cost around P650 per dose.
“Ang aking i-a-assure po sa inyo, fake news po ‘yung kumakalat na P3,600 daw ang singil ng China. Ang ating presyo, bagamat hindi pa maaaring ianunsyo kung ano po talaga ang presyo ng Sinovac, ay hindi po nagkakalayo o hindi po lalayo sa presyo ng Indonesia na sa bandang P650 kada turok,” he said in an interview on DZBB.
(What I will assure you is reports that China sells the vaccines at P3,600 is fake news. We cannot announce the exact price but it is not far from the price in Indonesia that is around P650 per dose.)
Sinovac manager says PH to get CoronaVac at ‘very good’ price
He added that the cost of the CoronaVac depends on which country would purchase it.
“Ang presyo kasi ng Tsina, hindi gaya ng ibang kompanya na kapitalista na market dictated. Ang presyo ng Tsina puwede nilang baguhin. Wala silang pakialam, depende kung sino ang bibili,” he said.
(The price of Chinese vaccines is not like in other capitalist companies that are dictated by the market. China can change the price of its vaccines. They don’t care. It depends on which country buys the vaccine.)
However, Yang did not confirm nor denied the price information, citing a confidentiality agreement.
“Before any vaccine can be used, it has to be approved by the local regulator and if there is an urgent need before a definitive agreement is agreed, and it is accepted and required by the Philippine government, I think we will try our best to be flexible,” she said.