The government has finally started its negotiations for the procurement of an additional 90 million novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine doses for next year.
The National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said he has already coordinated with the Department of Finance (DOF) to initiate negotiations for bulk purchase with several vaccine manufacturers.
“We are negotiating with four to five manufacturers to sign non-binding term sheets to lock-in the allocations of 90 million doses starting the first quarter [of 2022],” Galvez said.
The vaccine czar said the brands, which they picked is based on the evaluation of the Vaccine Expert Panel.
Galvez earlier said the additional doses would be used as booster shots for those, who are already fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
The Department of Finance (DOF) allocated P45 billion multilateral funding for the said procurement.
The government-planned acquisition of additional Covid-19 jabs is part of the updated National Vaccination Program (NVP) to be presented by the NTF to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) for approval.
The vaccine czar said among the highlights of the new NVP its report on the emergence of different Covid-19 variants and reformulated Covid-19 boosters shots.
The new NVP will also contain a review on the safety and efficacy of different vaccines, current vaccine global supply, vaccine rollout, results and development of first wave vaccine procurement.
Galvez said they negotiated for the delivery of 140 million to 160 million Covid-19 vaccine doses before the end of the year.