The country is set to receive the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from the Covax Facility starting mid-February.
In a letter addressed to the Department of Health (DOH), Covax Facility Managing Director Aurélia Nguyen said their office will distribute 117,000 doses of Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccine and 5,500,800 to 9,290,400 indicative doses of AstraZeneca AZD1222 vaccine to the Philippines subject to the UNICEF Supply Division and Pan American Health Organization establishing supply agreements with the manufacturers.
Covax is a global initiative that ensures rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries regardless of their income level.
Nguyen said the delivery of the vaccines within the timeframe would also be subject to the completion of the distribution requirements.
These are indemnity and liability frameworks, including the required legislative framework in place; and execution and providing documentation of national regulatory approval or proof of recognition or reliance on another type of regulatory approval, import license, and signed indemnity and liability agreement.
"We will be regularly communicating updates on expected doses and remain confident that we will be able to meet our commitment to you by the end of 2021," Nguyen said.
On Monday, the DOH said the country will receive a vaccine allocation for 20 percent of its population from Covax.
It noted that only 15 percent will be free and the remaining 5 percent will be paid by the government.
The agency also assured the public that the budget for the 5 percent has been secured.
The government has approved and ratified the Philippine National Deployment and Vaccination Plan for COVID-19 Vaccines and is now set to carry out the nationwide immunization campaign.
"All implementing agencies of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, all regional and local COVID-19 task forces, and all regional and local COVID-19 vaccination operations centers, local task forces and local COVID-19 vaccination operations centers are hereby mandated to implement and adopt the said plan," a memo from the National Task Force against COVID-19 read.
The regional and local COVID-19 vaccination operations centers are also directed to develop their own deployment and vaccination plans based on the templates disseminated by the DOH.
On Sunday, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said churches can be used as alternative sites for vaccination in hard-to-reach municipalities that lack facilities.
Duque made the remark as the DOH welcomed the offer of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to convert its churches into COVID-19 vaccination sites.
Earlier, CBCP president and Davao City Archbishop Romulo Valles offered their facilities to be used in the vaccination rollout, which is expected to start by February.
The DOH said it has been reaching out to several medical and allied health professionals, local government units and other sectors to help in the coming vaccine rollout and in boosting vaccine confidence.
On Saturday, the DOH said it is coordinating with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) following reports of COVID-19 vaccines being offered on the black market.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, in an interview on ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo, said she was dismayed that bootleg vaccines were available locally, and said these were unsafe to use.
Vergeire said the purpose of an emergency use authorization (EUA) was to ensure that vaccines would only be procured by the national government to prevent private inoculation.
“People should be careful when offered with a COVID-19 vaccine from the black market, because no one can guarantee its authenticity,” she said in Filipino.
She added that the Health Department would have a hard time monitoring the vaccine’s side effects in an individual inoculated with an unauthorized or smuggled brand.
In other developments:
• Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said the government should stock up on vaccination supplies such as syringes even before the vaccines arrive. “You don’t have to wait for the horse to arrive before you start building the cart,” Recto said, referring to ancillary requirements for vaccination that range from PPEs and syringes to refrigerators. Government officials said during the recent Senate hearing on the national vaccination plan that the current DOH stockpile of 30.5 million pieces of 0.5 ml syringes, 3.6 million pieces of mixing syringes, 3.8 million safety collector boxes, 3.6 million face masks, and 151,761 face shields are enough to meet initial vaccination requirements. But Recto said the national stockpile should consider a possible surge in cases on top of regular caseloads of public hospitals.
• Senior Citizen party-list Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes on Sunday said a pre-screening and precise data are crucial for proper vaccination of seniors and retirees. Specifically, they should be screened now for allergies, “co-morbidities,” such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma and other “markers” or “red flags” for possible adverse reactions. Moreover, co-residents of the seniors and retirees should also be vaccinated, except those who are too young for the available vaccines, he added.