SOON enough, Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines would be arriving in the Philippines, says Philippine Ambassador to the United States Manuel Romualdez.
However, Romualdez said that the American bio-pharmaceutical firms may not be able to deliver the entire bulk of order placed by the Philippine government, as supplies could not be stabilized overnight.
The US-based Filipino ambassador said that we could only expect 3 to 5 million doses for a start.
Nonetheless, the envoy expressed confidence that the Philippines will start receiving the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines soon as the US would have been able to complete its supply of vaccines for all its citizens by May and that those which would be manufactured thereafter will be for export to countries which have placed the orders.
“Yan ang inaasahan natin. Pero ayaw nila mag-commit 100% na ganun ang mangyayari,” Romuladez was quoted as saying in a radio interview on Sunday.
“We’ll be able to start delivering these doses to the Philippines not too far away from now,” the envoy said, quoting representatives of Pfizer and Moderna.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez earlier claimed that the US State Department has committed to the early delivery of any of Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines by May.
Since the start of the vaccine roll-out last March 1, the Philippine government has only managed to inoculated around 900,000 individuals, representing less than one percent of its population.