ASEAN

Private sector to help Philippines get vaccine

MANILA: The Philippine government plans to buy two million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca with help from the private sector.

According to the Philstar.com portal, the agreement was set to be signed here yesterday.

National Task Force against Covid-19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr said the agreement was the result of discussions between the government, the private sector, pharmaceutical firms and embassies of different countries.

Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion leads the private sector's efforts to procure 2.5 million to three million doses of the vaccine to support the government's initiative.

AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Philippines president Lotis Ramin, Galvez and Concepcion, who is representing the private sector, were scheduled to sign the tripartite agreement here.

"We are happy to report that the discussions have borne fruit and we will sign a tripartite agreement to buy two million doses of vaccine from AstraZeneca of the United Kingdom. The private sector is part of this and will donate," Galvez said at a press briefing on Thursday.

The government also planned to negotiate with AstraZeneca for the possible procurement of additional doses.

"We will negotiate (for the possible purchase of vaccines using) public money. The 2.2 million (doses) involves private money and the negotiations with AstraZeneca are ongoing. Our deadline is this November. We still have strategies to continue the 20 million access to AstraZeneca," Galvez said.

He said while efforts to ensure vaccine access were under way, the public should continue to observe health protocols.

On Wednesday, he said the realistic timeline for the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in the Philippines was at the end of next year or early 2022.

The government is planning to borrow 73.2 billion pesos from multilateral lenders, domestic and bilateral sources to buy vaccines for 60 million people. The vaccination programme may take three to five years.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the agreement, which seeks to ensure equitable access to vaccines, would strengthen the partnership between the public and private sectors in the fight against Covid-19.

"The private sector will co-share in the responsibility to protect the economy by vaccinating their own people and their own stakeholders, especially the labourers with small wages that the president mentioned. We will prioritise them in the vaccination."

Roque assured the public that there would be no politics in the distribution of vaccines.

"If you look at the vaccine roadmap, (it) will last for three to five years. It's beyond political colour, it's beyond political years of the election. If there is politics... the president would not give vaccines to his rivals... but the president is not like that. Everyone needs a vaccine and it will be given to everyone."

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