TWO U.S. pharmaceutical firms are willing to supply the Philippines with their vaccines against the coronavirus by the second half of 2021, according to Philippine Ambassador to Washington D.C. Jose Manuel Romualdez.
The Philippine envoy said that Moderna and Arcturus Therapeutics have reportedly given their commitments to the country.
“I am pleased to report that aside from Pfizer, Moderna and Arcturus are ready to supply the Philippines anywhere between 4-25M [million] of their respective vaccines starting Q3 2021, should the Philippine government find their proposals acceptable,” he said in a statement on Friday, December 18.
“We are hoping our government will consider the promising candidates of Moderna and Arcturus for inclusion in our country’s pool of anti-COVID vaccines,” added Romualdez.
Like Pfizer, both Moderna and Arcturus are utilizing the new messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology for their vaccines.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to grant the firm an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Moderna’s vaccine after its advisory panel endorsed it as safe and effective.
Moderna’s vaccine has a 94.5% efficacy rate, occurring at least 14 days after the second dose. It could become the second vaccine to be authorized in the U.S. following Pfizer’s vaccine, which was given the go signal to be inoculated outside vaccine trials last Friday.
Thousands of health care workers in the U.S. were among the first round to receive their jabs this week.
Meanwhile, Arcturus’ vaccine is set to distribute its shots in the first quarter of 2021 after the Phase 1 and 2 of its clinical trial showed encouraging results.
Philippine officials are still in talks with Pfizer to secure a deal for the country. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III was recently accused of “dropping the ball” on a 10 million Pfizer vaccine deal, but he has denied the allegations.
The country has already secured a deal with AstraZeneca through the help of the private sector. 2.6 million vaccines are expected to arrive in the second quarter of 2021, and another batch is currently being negotiated.
On December 1, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte granted the country’s FDA to allow emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
“It is a priority of the State to ensure that the lives of the Filipino people, especially the underprivileged, poor, and marginalized, our frontliners, healthcare providers, police officers and soldiers, and those in the essential services shall be protected from COVID-19 by ensuing accessibility and adequacy of supply of related drugs and vaccines,” he said.
