With 'promised' early access, PH private sector, LGUs eye Bharat Biotech vaccine

Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said on Wednesday, April 21, that the private sector and local governments were eyeing to buy vaccines from Indian drug firm Bharat Biotech, citing the possibility of an early delivery of the shot in the coming months.

In a joint hearing of the House trade and health committees, Concepcion said that the private sector and local government units were enticed to purchase Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine as the firm had “sort of promised early deliveries in May to June of a certain quantity.”

“The advantage of Covaxin of Bharat (Biotech) is this will arrive much earlier, so there is a lot of pressure for private sector and even LGUs wanting immediate deliveries,” he said.

Concepcion said at least 1 to 2 million doses of the vaccine were being considered for purchase, but Bharat Biotech could supply as much as 7 to 8 million doses for the Philippines.

Concepcion said at least 113 private companies were interested in buying some 216,276 doses of Covaxin, based on ongoing negotiations.

Last April 19, the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Bharat Biotech’s vaccine for emergency use in the country, on the condition that it submit a pending document related to its manufacturing practices before starting to import its vaccine into the country.

FDA Director General Eric Domingo said the agency had been assured Bharat Biotech would comply with the needed paperwork, and that an experts’ review of the vaccine determined that its benefits outweighed known and potential risks.

No national gov’t orders for now

During the hearing, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr said that while Bharat Biotech had been given emergency use authorization in the Philippines, the national government so far had no plans to purchase the shot since most funds allocated for vaccines were to be used for the purchase of seven other vaccines part of the country’s portfolio.

This included vaccines from Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer and BioNTech, Gamaleya Research Institute, Johnson and Johnson (Janssen Pharmaceutica), Moderna, and Novavax.

“Our more or less P82 billion [for vaccines] will be consumed by the seven contracts already. That’s why we don’t have for Covaxin,” Galvez said.

The vaccine czar added that with the current deals government had with the seven vaccine firms, the Philippines has so far secured “more or less 150 million” doses of COVID-19 vaccines good for some 70 million Filipinos. The country’s stockpile may cover 20 million more Filipinos with supplies expected from the COVAX global facility.

Asked by House health committee chairperson Helen Tan if the government had any plans to purchase Bharat Biotech’s vaccine considering the advantage of early delivery, Galvez said the government’s focus was on the seven firms recommended by experts to form part of the country’s vaccine portfolio as the shots had also been among those widely used across the world.

“Considering the government procurement is much more tedious with COA (Commission on Audit), we limit the reserve…. The low risk vaccines in terms of failure later on, ‘yung po ang ano namin sa (that is what is recommended by) vaccine experts,” he said.

Concepcion said such a set up was preferred by local governments and the private sector as Bharat Biotech was so far looking at supplying only up to 8 million doses of its vaccines to the Philippines in 2021.

“Between private sector and LGUs, LGUs alone medyo kulang na ‘yun (that is already somewhat lacking). We’re trying to negotiate for more for private sector,” he said.

Concepcion added in a mix of English and Filipino: “If the national government comes in, we might run out of share. We prefer that Secretary Galvez focuses on the other vaccines because this is the only line that we have for vaccines that will arrive early within May and June and many companies want to acquire vaccines that will come ASAP (as soon as possible).” – Rappler.com

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