National Policy Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., on Tuesday said the government is finalizing the supply agreements with five pharmaceutical firms hopefully by end-February.

“Sa ngayon po, ang supply agreement na inaayos po natin [ay] ‘yung sa lima (So far we are finalizing five supply agreements), we are on the advanced stage already on the negotiation,” Galvez said at a Laging Handa press briefing.

Galvez said he cannot reveal the vaccine brands yet as it is bound by the confidential disclosure agreement (CDA).

“We are expecting this coming end of [the] month of February ay matapos na lahat ng details ng supply agreement (that all the details of the supply agreement will be finalized),” he said. “We have already completed the term sheets of the five vaccine companies and we were able to secure 108 million doses.”

The country has also secured 40 million doses of vaccine from the Covax facility, he added.

“We are now preparing for the supply agreements and finalizing all the contract for 148 million doses by mid of February 2021,” he said.

Galvez said the government will implement the initial vaccination campaign or a so-called “mini-rollout” from February to March this year.

“For first quarter with limited available doses, we intend to prioritize the healthcare workers to preserve our healthcare system and government essential institutions including the uniformed personnel,” he said. “For second quarter, we will build vaccination confidence by protecting our vulnerable sectors, the poor communities, including economic front-liners in accordance with WHO (World Health Organization) and DOH (Department of Health) guidelines.”

The massive nationwide rollout will be done in the third quarter, he added.

Galvez said the government targets to inoculate 50 to 70 million Filipinos to achieve herd immunity.

Meanwhile, Galvez said the possible arrival of some 117,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines will be on Feb. 20, which will be delivered in one tranche under the sealed deal with the Covax facility.

Meanwhile, around 5,500,s to 9,290,400 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines will be delivered on the first and second quarter of this year.

“This Covax allocation is very timely since the main recipients of these vaccines are our healthcare workers and front-liners in the different priority and affected regions,” he said.

On the other hand, Galvez cited the positive results of the clinical trial conducted by drugmakers Novavax and Johnson&Johnson (J&J).

“We have also positive results of the clinical trials of Novavax and Johnson&Johnson which can increase global capacity to 3 billion. We have a total of 40 million orders with Novavax and also with J&J next generation technology of single shot therapy,” he said. (PNA)