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Supply, regulatory issues affect COVID-19 vaccine tripartite deals: Galvez

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ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Caloocan City residents booked online receive their dose of a COVID-19 vaccine" src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/news/08/18/20210816-covid19-vaccination-caloocan-md-1md_4435.jpg?ext=.jpg"/><figcaption>Caloocan City residents booked online receive their dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at the Notre Dame of Greater Manila vaccination site on August 16, 2021.<em> Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA - The unsteady COVID-19 vaccine supply and regulatory issues are hounding the tripartite procurement deals involving local governments, vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez, Jr. said Wednesday. </p><p>In a statement, Galvez said the government intends to honor the agreements and commitments under the multi-party agreements (MPA) &quot;which have already been signed&quot; with localities.</p><p>Some purchases were put on hold, he said, due to supply issues, among other things. </p><p>For one, Moderna and AstraZeneca suspended vaccine orders through the MPAs &quot;for the time being&quot;, the statement said.</p><p>Sinovac, Pfizer, and Gamaleya, meanwhile, intend to prioritize the orders of the national government, it added.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/17/21/local-govt-vaccine-tripartite-deals-yet-to-be-signed-senator">Local govt vaccine purchase on hold as tripartite deals yet to be signed: senator</a></li></ul><p>Some vaccine orders are also facing regulatory issues, according to the official. </p><p>The country&#x27;s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to grant Novavax an emergency use authorization, while Bharat Biotech&#x27;s Covaxin has also yet to receive regulatory approval from the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC). </p><p>Authorities, Galvez said, are also concerned about Covaxin&#x27;s &quot;potential overpricing issues.&quot;</p><p>On Aug. 9, FDA Director General Eric Domingo said his agency is still waiting for Novavax to submit several more documents for its EUA application. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/09/21/fda-awaiting-novavax-files-for-covid-19-jab-approval">Novavax yet to submit some files for COVID-19 vaccine approval: FDA</a></li></ul><p>Johnson &amp; Johnson&#x27;s Janssen is also &quot;not open for MPAs&quot; at present under Republic Act No. 11525 or the COVID-19 Vaccination Program of 2021, Galvez said.</p><p>&quot;As we have explained in the past, our nation’s vaccine procurement efforts largely depend on the availability of supply which up to this day remains limited,&quot; the official explained. </p><p>&quot;This is why the [National Task Force Against COVID-19] continues to actively engage various vaccine manufacturers, he added.</p><div><strong>WATCH</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1749726" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>His statement came a day after Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said &quot;almost all&quot; of tripartite deals have yet to be signed, delaying the vaccine purchase of provinces. </p><p>&quot;It’s coming in trickles. But we have the fund to purchase these vaccines, to push this vaccine program to make it 500,000 a day if they release these tripartite agreements,&quot; according to Zubiri. </p><p>Galvez has yet to respond to queries as to how many COVID-19 vaccine doses are affected by the pending tripartite deals. </p><div><strong>NTF TO LGUS: ALLOCATE MONEY TO ISOLATION, TREATMENT OF PATIENTS </strong></div><p>With the developments, the vaccine czar urged local government units to allocate their vaccine budget to their COVID-19 isolation, treatment, and prevention strategy. </p><p>&quot;This, along with COVID-19 vaccines, remain the best ways to contain and mitigate the impact of COVID-19,&quot; he said. </p><p>He also appealed to localities to be &quot;patient&quot; since the NTF is giving all their &quot;best&quot; on the matter. </p><p>&quot;We have to face the reality that vaccine makers are still not able to produce at a level that would meet the requirements of all nations. The issue is not just about having the resources to procure the vaccines but its limited supply in the world market.&quot;</p><p>The Philippines is facing another surge in COVID-19 infections, straining the country&#x27;s limited health care system. </p><p>Experts said the new wave of infections is driven by the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant. </p><p>As of Monday, the government was already able to administer 28,308,493 virus jabs, of which over 15.5 million are first doses. </p><p>A total of 12.7 million Filipinos, meanwhile, are fully vaccinated against the disease. </p><p>The country aims to vaccinate some 58 million in Metro Manila and 8 other urban areas by yearend to achieve population protection and revive the economy.</p><div class="infogram-embed" data-id="_/yFVE69R1WlSdqY3aCsBF" data-title="COVID-19 VACCINE TRACKER PH" data-type="interactive"> </div><div><script type="text/javascript">!function(e,i,n,s){var t='InfogramEmbeds',d=e.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];if(window[t]&&window[t].initialized)window[t].process&&window[t].process();else if(!e.getElementById(n)){var o=e.createElement('script');o.async=1,o.id=n,o.src='https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js',d.parentNode.insertBefore(o,d)}}(document,0,'infogram-async');</script></div>

Sec. Carlito Galvez, Jr. issued the statement after Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said almost all tripartite deals to buy vaccines have yet to be signed.