Vaccine Arrival in PH Delayed by Paperwork

The Philippines' immunization czar, Carlito Galvez, on Friday apologized for the delay in the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines,  as the arrival of the first shipments were pushed back.

Geopolitics has left the Philippines and 129 others still without COVID vaccines roughly one year since global lockdowns started. The U.S. and Europe was first to secure their supplies, Galvez told Metro Manila mayors.

"Kaunting pasensya lang po. Pasensya na po talaga na talagang hindi po natin kasi hawak iyong ating supply chain... doon sa mga vaccine," he said.

The country's negotiations with the Covax facility are ongoing, with commitments to provide the around 44 million doses. Covax is a global vaccine equity alliance that includes the World Health Organization.

"Dapat intindihin din natin sila, na iyong pagbabakuna ng buong mundo, ay isang malaking hamon din sa kanila," he said.

Plans to visit the Serum Institute of India are also in place. The institute will produce two to three billion vaccine doses, including 30 million Novavax shots for the Philippines, with a portion dedicated to the private sector and local government units, Galvez said.

"Sa awa po ng Diyos, siguro po tingnan po natin, baka po meron ding umabot na vaccine this coming February and majority of our vaccine, baka magdating po ng March," Galvez said.

"Sana po maintindihan n'yo po ang kalagayan ng gobyerno. Kami po talaga, ginagawa po namin ang aming magagawa, lalo na sa FDA, na sana iyong aming, iyong ating vaccine na dadalhin dito ay very safe, effective," he said.

China's Sinovac, of which the government was counting on receiving 600,000 doses, does not yet have emergency use authorization from the World Health Organization (WHO). The Pfizer vaccine, on the other hand, has been delayed due to the lack of an indemnification agreement.

The Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines required two sets of indemnification agreements, explained Galvez: one with the WHO's Covax facility, and specific indemnification agreements with each of the manufacturers. "Para po sa kaalaman ng lahat, nung unang negotiation po namin, hindi po yan hinihingi ng Pfizer, just only now. Kaya medyo nabigla kami," he said. 

This story originally appeared on Reportr.world. Minor edits have been made by the SPOT.ph editors.

Source: Spot PH