MANILA: Some 1.5 million Filipinos will receive the AZD1222 coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine following an agreement between the government and AstraZeneca last week.
According to the Manila Times, the Philippine government and a group of private companies had signed the 600 million peso deal, which ensures that 2.6 million doses of the vaccine are delivered to the country in May and June next year.
National Task Force against Covid-19 Chief Implementer and Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr said the agreement was a "game changer" in the fight against Covid-19. He said the vaccine would be subjected to evaluation by the country's panel of vaccine experts and the Food and Drug Administration.
"Strict protocols will be implemented in the selection of Covid-19 vaccines because the government's main goal is to ensure a safe and effective vaccine for the Filipino people."
But he expressed "high confidence" in the vaccine that was created by the British drug-maker in partnership with the University of Oxford, noting its "reputation in creating high-quality drugs and vaccines being used around the world".
AstraZeneca Philippines chief executive officer Lotis Ramin said the firm was working closely with regulatory agencies across the globe with the hope to "bring a solution to end the pandemic".
Presidential Adviser on Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo Founder Jose Maria Concepcion 3rd said the partnership with the business community would allow the economy to open further, while ensuring that prioritised groups, such as medical frontliners, vulnerable people and the needy, would be inoculated.
"Our Filipino people can be assured that we will not be left behind."
He earlier said that half of the doses would be for government frontliners, and the other half for regular and contractual employees in private companies.
Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development executive director Jaime Montoya welcomed the initiative led by Go Negosyo, but stressed that the manufacturer still had to complete clinical trials in the country.
"AstraZeneca will continue the clinical trials in the Philippines to see whether we have a good response to the vaccine as in the other countries."
According to the Times, he said the Philippines was the only country in Southeast Asia where AstraZeneca had chosen to test its vaccine to see if it had the same effect as that on volunteers in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Montoya said unless AstraZeneca gave its preliminary clinical trial data to the vaccine panel, there was no way of confirming media reports regarding the issue of dosage.
"I understand that they are analysing the errors and why this happened, but we do not foresee that (there will be) an effect on efficacy."
Aside from AstraZeneca, the country has bilateral agreements with Sinovac Biotech Ltd and Clover Biopharmaceuticals of China, Gamaleya Research Institute of Russia, and Janssen Pharmaceutica-Johnson & Johnson of the US. Montoya said Clover's candidate vaccine had advanced to the ethics review board after passing the technical review, making it the second vaccine after Sinovac to advance to the trials.
He expected the trials for the two vaccines to begin by late next month or early January.