The bulk of the COVID-19 vaccines for the Philippines will come from Novavax, according to vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr.
Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Monday told the Senate Committee of the Whole that the bulk of the COVID-19 vaccines that would be made available in the Philippines would come from Novavax.
Covovax would be manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and the Philippine government recently signed a “term sheet” in order to secure 30 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.
Galvez, who was also the chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, signed a “term sheet” with the Serum Institute of India and Fabreco Life Sciences last January 9 in order to finalize the deal.
In a statement, the NTF said that the Covovax COVID-19 vaccine had the “recombinant coronavirus spike protein nanoparticle” and a Novavax-patented “Matrix-M adjuvant” in order to enhance the immune response and to stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies.
Covovax was currently in third-stage clinical trials and was expected to be approved for use by international regulators. The Covovax vaccines were expected to arrive in the Philippines in the third quarter of 2021.
“Our main volumes will be coming from Novavax with 30 to 40 million doses. For Pfizer, we are negotiating for higher volumes of more or less 40 million; AstraZeneca 25 to 30 million doses, and Sinovac and Gamaleya for 25 million each,” Galvez said during the hearing.
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Galvez added that the Philippine government can start rolling out its COVID-19 vaccination program in February possibly using either Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, or the Sinovac from COVAX.
COVAX was a global facility vaccine procurement and distribution effort led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the Gavi vaccine alliance.
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