The Philippines government targets to vaccinate as many as 30 million people a year.- Reuters
MANILA (The Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN): The Philippine government, together with local private companies, will sign a tripartite agreement with British drugmaker AstraZeneca on Friday (Nov 27) for the purchase of its Covid-19 vaccine.
The country’s vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr said during a televised Palace press briefing Thursday (Nov 26) that 2 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine will be purchased under the deal.
Astra Zeneca earlier said its Covid-19 vaccine was 70% effective in pivotal trials and could be up to 90% effective, and can be cheaper to make, easier to distribute and faster to scale-up than rivals.
The government is looking to administer vaccines to at least 60 million Filipinos to achieve herd immunity to limit virus transmission in the country.
Earlier, Galvez, a former military chief who is in charge of strategy to fight the coronavirus, said the government was also in talks with Pfizer Inc. and China’s Sinovac for possible vaccine supply deals. - The Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network
