Jose Manuel “Babes” Romualdez, the Philippine ambassador for the United States of America, annnounced to the Malacañang Press Corps last Tuesday that the American manufacturer Pfizer has ensured that the Filipinos will receive the COVID-19 vaccine that they are developing. “As long as they get approval and we tell them what we need, they’re ready to supply it,” claimed Ambassador Romualdez.
On The Works
Pfizer’s vaccine candidate has garnered a 90% effectivity rating during the initial study of its Phase 3 clinical trials, making it a frontrunner in the COVID-19 vaccine race. Safety data are still needed to be gathered before their candidate could be approved for mass distribution.
The company has stated that once the vaccine has been approved, its initial batch will head directly towards the USA. “Of course, their production this year, the United States will go first because they need 100 million vaccines,” said Romualdez. 100 million doses of the vaccine has already been ordered by the US government.
This would mean that the Philippines, along with other countries, will have to wait longer for the vaccines to reach them. Romualdez projects that, if the vaccine candidate would face no issues, the US Food and Drug Administration could approve it for distribution within the year. These vaccines could then probably reach our country by early next year. The Pfizer only asked for a purchase order from our government to validate our commitment to buying a certain amount of vaccine doses. According to the ambassador, the Pfizer vaccine could cost around P240 per shot, which could be shouldered by both our government and the private sector.
As we wait for the vaccines to be validated and distributed globally, we must continue our detection and isolation efforts for the positive cases to conduct immediate treatment and minimize the virus’ reach. MEDTEK is an official distributor of equipment and devices for antibody, antigen and PCR testing. For accredited testing organizations and LGUs interested in purchasing this products, please feel free to fill out the form below.
