Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 19) – Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. maintained the deals struck by the country with vaccine manufacturers are virtually without profit, adding that the national government’s negotiation efforts even brought expenses down by $700 million.
“Maipapangako ko po sa ating mahal na kababayan na ang lahat ng negosasyon ay at cost, meaning almost no profit. And nung ni-compute ko po lahat ng mga brand, lumalabas po na naka-save tayo ng $700 million,” Galvez said Monday in a televised meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte and other government officials.
[Translation: I can promise our beloved countrymen that all negotiations are at cost, meaning there is almost no profit. And when I computed expenses for all brands, it showed that we were able to save $700 million.]
Galvez said this meant they were able to slash by half the initial offer prices. He added that the savings were used to secure more vaccine doses from various drugmakers, with the government targeting to procure 148 million doses this year, up from the initial plan of 70 million.
Galvez made these pronouncements amid allegations of corruption in vaccine deals, which were sparked by reports of sharp differences in the prices of Sinovac vaccines in the Philippines and in other nations.
The country is set to receive next month its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines, carrying 50,000 doses from the Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac. In total, the country has so far secured 25 million doses from the company.
Apart from this, Galvez also earlier said the national government already inked a deal with the Serum Institute of India for 30 million doses of Covovac, as well as 17 million doses from the UK-based AstraZeneca, which it procured through tripartite agreements involving the private sector and local government units.
