No talks on supply, shipment with Pfizer – DOH

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) clarified yesterday that the confidential disclosure agreement (CDA) with Pfizer did not cover the actual supply of the firm’s vaccines for COVID-19.

At a press briefing, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the CDA signed in October was for the “initial data sharing so that we can start agreements.”

“The CDA didn’t contain operational and technical details. There was no mention about doses, what period and other deliveries.  Nothing like that,” she noted.

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said negotiations for the supply of 10 million Pfizer vaccine doses began last July, facilitated by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pfizer wanted the CDA before committing to the supply, Romualdez said.

He confirmed what Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. had tweeted, that the 10 million doses would have arrived this January at Clark International Airport through a Federal Express flight. But the CDA approval came too late, pushing back the delivery to July 2021.

Vergeire assured the public as well as worried officials that the CDA went through the “usual processes of the government” and that it was also studied by legal experts.

She added that it was also not only DOH that was involved in negotiations but the Department of Science and Technology and, during the later part, the Office of the Executive Secretary.

“Actually it was really very generic talks because that time, there was no CDA yet. This is really for data sharing… to be able to start the talks and for experts to be able to look into their documents,” she maintained.

In an interview Thursday with CNN Philippines, vaccine czar and COVID-19 response chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said negotiations with Pfizer for vaccine supply are still ongoing.

“I believe that the negotiations only had slight delays. It is still on,” he said. “It was only delayed by more or less two weeks.”

Galvez said the government wants to make sure that any deal with the US-based pharmaceutical giant will not suffer any glitches.

“We will really have legal opinion on what we will sign. There is no problem. The negotiations are still ongoing,” Galvez said.

“We are just being careful on what to sign. There is no bungled deal. The negotiations are still ongoing,” he said.

Galvez also branded as too speculative the reports that the government had missed an opportunity to secure 10 million doses of vaccines from Pfizer by January next year.

“It is very impossible. First of all, it is only now that Pfizer had an emergency utilization of vaccines. And I believed that you have seen in the news that 80 percent of the volume of vaccines have already been taken by rich countries. It is mathematically impossible,” Galvez said.

He earlier said that less-developed countries like the Philippines are fighting for the remaining 18 percent of COVID-19 vaccines available in the world market.

“For us, it is really very impossible. We have many criteria for the purchase of vaccines. One is the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. They (experts) are looking at platform if it is old or traditional. We are also looking at credibility and performance,” Galvez pointed out.

He stressed that experts call the shots in the government’s efforts to purchase COVID-19 vaccines.

“Yes, there is no political decision here, but it involves experts’ decision. They are conducting scientific evaluation and selection of vaccines. The vaccine experts have the right there,” he said.

“I am also consulting with some people in the international community like the experts in the World Bank and the global consulting companies including the private sector, such as Unilab. These people have experience and they said that the vaccines in China are good,” Galvez said, referring to China’s Sinovac. –  Jose Rodel Clapano