More coronavirus vaccines are expected to arrive in the Philippines as the government is set to sign a supply agreement with manufacturer Johnson&Johnson this week, National Task Force Against Covid chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said yesterday.
“We have 5 million doses from Johnson&Johnson and we are set to sign a supply agreement this coming week, before the weekend,” Galvez said in a virtual press briefing.
He said there is still an ongoing negotiation between the government and the Gamaleya Research Institute of Russia for the delivery of vaccines this month.
“We are negotiating for 3 million doses and Russia promised to give us Gamaleya’s Sputnik V in the middle of April,” he added.
The government is also finalizing the indemnification requirement with Pfizer-BioNtech.
Due to limited supplies, Galvez said the Pfizer vaccines may become available within the third and fourth quarters this year.
The single-shot J&J/Janssen vaccine is recommended for people aged 18 years and older.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was 66.3 percent effective in clinical trials (efficacy) at preventing Covid-19 in people who had no evidence of prior infection two weeks after receiving the vaccine.
People had the most protection two weeks after getting vaccinated.
Early evidence also suggested that the J&J/Janssen vaccine might provide protection against asymptomatic infection, according to the CDC. That is, when a person is infected by the virus that causes Covid-19 but does not get sick.*PNA
