Bulk of COVID-19 vaccines will come from Novavax – Galvez

Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez on Monday told the Senate Committee of the Whole that the bulk of the COVID19 vaccines that will be made available in the Philippines will come from US pharmaceutical company Novavax.

- HANNAH L. TORREGOZA and MARTIN A. SADONGDONG

Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the NTF Against COVID-19, signed a term sheet with the Serum Institute of India (SII) and its Philippine partner, Fabreco Life Sciences last Saturday, January 9, to secure 30 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Accordingly, the SII partnered with Novavax, a US-based biotechnology company to develop and commercialize the Covavax vaccine.

The vaccine has the recombinant coronavirus spike protein nanoparticle and a Novavax-patented Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance the immune response and stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies. Covovax is in third-stage trials and is expected to be approved for use by international regulators, the NTF said.

The Covovax vaccines are expected to arrive in the country in the third quarter of this year.

“Our main volumes will be coming from Novavax with 30 to 40 million doses,” Galvez said during the hearing.

“For Pfizer, we are negotiating for higher volumes of more or less 40 million; AstraZeneca 25 to 30 million doses, and Sinovac and Gamaleya for 25 million each,” he said.

He said the government can start rolling out its COVID-19 vaccination program in February possibly using either Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, or the Sinovac from COVAX, the global facility vaccine procurement and distribution effort led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Gavi vaccine alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

He said the Philippines might be receiving more or less 40 million doses from COVAX for 20-30 million people.

Galvez, however, said that 80 percent of the global supply of COVID-19 vaccines has gone to rich countries.