Amidst Frustration, The Search for the Right Vaccine Continues

The intense work for coronavirus shots continues as the country’s vaccine czar maintained that amid some delays in talks with manufacturers the government is still on track with its vaccine’s search. Amid updates that Health Secretary Francisco Duque III dropped the ball in negotiations with US drugmaker Pfizer by failing to sign a single text here’s Carlito Galvez Jr., who also stands as chief implementer of the country’s COVID-19 program.

This even though he recognized some delays in the government’s talks with suppliers of vaccines, which they were willing to compensate for. He shared it without providing details that the country is in advanced stages of negotiations with several developers of vaccines and that by the end of the year or early January 2021 that the government is eyeing an agreement with them.

But he also gave the country a very pessimistic outlook as he acknowledges that it is struggling to get a reasonable share of vaccines on the global market as 80% of inoculations were already purchased by countries where the shots were produced and those facing a second wave of infections. He also told the nation that the vaccines will be available at a cheaper price relative to commercial prices. To the point they also hit those who fire the unfounded charges and make unnecessary presumptions saying that they will derail the government from pursuing its objective of securing secure and efficient vaccines.

They emphasize that the time for finger-pointing is not now since adding that these debates are unproductive and will only distract from the objective of getting vaccines against coronavirus.

Duque also denied that the government had lost control underlining that talks with many manufacturers of vaccines are still underway. He also clarified that it is not true the Pfizer had told the nation that it had produced 10 million doses of its vaccine with the German company BioNTech.

However, Locsin insists otherwise, saying that he asked US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to assist Manila’s Washington ambassador, Jose Manuel Romualdez, to secure even a fraction of it and nothing happened.

Meanwhile, Coronavirus vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. Shared that the vaccine from Pfizer could arrive in the country at the earliest by the third quarter of 2021. Wealthy nations have already purchased and paid for doses of products from Pfizer.