This illustrative photograph taken in a studio shows a minature shopping cart with syringee and bottles reading “Covid-19 Vaccine”, in Paris, on January 8, 2021. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines — Two types of COVID-19 vaccines may arrive in the country as early as February, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.
“May portfolio po tayo na iba’t ibang mga bakuna (We have a portfolio of different vaccines) and as early as February we might be receiving the deliveries of these vaccines,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an interview on ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.
“Mayroon pong dalawang klase ng bakuna (There are two types of vaccines) that can be available by February already,” she added.
Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire.(INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / EDWIN BACASMAS)
Vergeire, however, refused to divulge more information on the vaccines.
“Antayin po natin si (Let us wait for information from our) vaccine czar. I hope you understand he is the one authorized to provide this kind of information,” she said, referring to Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., who is also the chief implementer of the government’s national action plan on the pandemic.
The Philippines earlier signed a deal with the Serum Institute of India for 30 million doses of the Covovax COVID-19 vaccine.
The vaccines will be available by the third quarter of 2021.
The country has also secured 2.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca through a tripartite agreement with local private firms.
The vaccines are expected to arrive by the second quarter of the year.
Some local government units have also signed agreements with the national government and AstraZeneca for the supply of the inoculation shots.
The government is likewise in talks with other vaccine manufacturers such as Pfizer and Moderna of the United States, Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm of China, and the Gamaleya Institute of Russia for the vaccination program.
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For more information on COVID-19, call the DOH Hotline: (02) 86517800 local 1149/1150.
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