The government is eyeing to sign a deal for the procurement of another 20 million doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine by the end of December, National Policy Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said.

“Baka (maybe) this coming next week, either December 28 or 29, inaantay lang po namin ‘yung — ‘yung (we are just waiting for) Ministry of Health Regulatory Authorization ng U.K. at puwede na po naming pirmahan ‘yung ano po, ‘yung kontrata (of United Kingdom and we could sign the contract),” Galvez said during the public briefing of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Galvez said out of the 20 million doses of vaccine, around 10 million will be allocated for local government units (LGUs) and the private sector.

Galvez also reported a positive outcome of the government’s negotiation with pharmaceutical companies to secure Covid-19 vaccines.

“Ang naging positive result po nito ‘yung mga may-ari po ng kumpanya at saka po ‘yung mga (The results are positive with those company owners and) country [representatives], they agree on strong support on non-profit–no loss concept,” he said.

They also agreed to negotiate the Covid-19 vaccine at a lower price, he added.

“Katulad po nung ginawa ng AstraZeneca (As what the AstraZeneca did,) that they pegged their price to only five dollars a shot or more or less, siguro po mga aabot lang po ng P500 po na sa dalawang shot na po iyon (I think it will only cost P500 per two shots of vaccine),” Galvez said.

With his talks with the country representative of the Serum Institute of India, a manufacturer of immunobiological drugs, Galvez said the company committed to comply with the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 9184 also known as Government Procurement Reform Act.

Galvez said the government expects to get 30 million doses of the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine.

The government targets to vaccinate about 60 million Filipinos by the second and third quarter of 2021, Galvez said. CURRENTPH