MANILA – The Philippine government has reached a deal with Moderna Incorporated for 13 million doses of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine that will be delivered in the middle of the year.
Moderna chief executive officer Stéphane Bancel said they will work with the country’s Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to pursue necessary approvals prior to the distribution.
Bancel added that the 13 million doses are part of the 20 million doses of Moderna vaccines the country is set to purchase from them. The seven million other doses were procured by the private sector.
“We thank the government and the private sector for their collaboration to bring the COVID-19 vaccine Moderna to the Philippines,” Bancel said in a press statement on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez, in a radio interview on Sunday, said that the pharmaceutical company has committed to deliver the vaccines by June.
“Hopefully darating ‘yan by June of this year,” Romualdez said in an interview with DZBB. “Ang gobyerno, they just were able to conclude mga 13 million doses so malaking bagay ‘yan.”
Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine has shown 94 percent efficacy rate after human trials so far but it has no emergency use authorization from the FDA yet.Apart from Moderna, Romualdez said the Philippines has six million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Johnson and Johnson’s Janssen but still has no scheduled delivery date./PN
