Moderna to file EUA with FDA next week, delivery of 20-M doses to be completed by year-end; Moderna booster shots also to be made available starting September
(Eagle News) — Moderna would start delivering its vaccines to the Philippines by June 15 by which time more vaccines coming from the United States, including those from Pfizer, would be also arriving, according to Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez.
“Right now, ang Moderna nakasalang na yan. Maliit lang this June 15. I was hoping na makuha natin by May, Pero nagka-problema ang J&J dito sa America,” he said in an interview in the NET25 program Balitalakayan on Monday, April 19.
The problem he was referring to was the setback of the Johnson and Johnson vaccines that had been reported to have rare blood clots as side effect, which caused a pause in its rollout.
“We’re confident. Sinabi naman sa atin ng Moderna na this small dose this June 15. Tapos July, Agusut to Setember, magakakaroon ng 1 to 2 million doses, all the way hanggang December, hanggang sa maabot natin yung 20 million doses na binili natin sa Moderna,” the ambassador said in the exclusive interview.
-Vaccine czar informed of Moderna booster shots-
Ambassador Romualdez also said that Moderna has developed booster shots against COVID-19 which the Philippines could also avail of, since these can be used even if the person had received other types of vaccines.
In the interview in the Eagle News Service program “Balitalakayan”, the ambassador said that he had already talked with vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., regarding the possibility of talking to Moderna to secure these booster shots. He said that these booster shots would be available by September of this year.
“Yung booster shot na yan, yung ibang nagpapa-vaccinate ng ibang bakuna na galing sa ibang bayan, puede rin gamitin itonng booster shot para madgadgan ang kanilang immunity,” Ambassador Romualdez said.
“Sinabi ko na rin kay Secretary Galvez na tingnan natin kung puede na ring kumuha ng Moderna booster shots,” he said.
-Zuellig Pharmaceuticals to file EUA for Moderna-
The envoy said that Zuellig Pharmaceuticals will also be filing an application for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Moderna hopefully by next week with Philippine Food and Drug Administration. Moderna and Zuellig, he said, already have an agreement regarding the transport of the vaccines in the country.
“Sila (Zuellig) ang mag-fa-file ng EUA. Ang promise naman sa akin ng Moderna, yan ay ifa-file na nila by next week, at madali naman na nila yang ma-reready. We have enough time before the delivery of June 15,” he said,
The Philippine envoy said that they were hoping that they could get the Moderna vaccines by May, but supplies had been hampered because of the problem encountered in the United States regarding the Johnson and Johnson vaccines.
He did not say how many doses from Moderna that the country would get this June, but he said that this was not big as they had hoped for.
Romualdez explained that the US right now is trying to get the 400 million vaccine doses they need for their country first, before giving these to other countries.
“Alam kong kritikal ang sitwasyon natin sa Pilipinas, kaya humihingi kami ng tulong dito sa Amerika, kung puede makakuha ng Moderna nang mas maaga,” he said.
“Because nagka-setback ang J&J, nagka-setback na rin ang supplies dito sa Amerika,” he said during the Balitalakayan interview.
-PHL request to borrow from AstraZeneca US stockpile under study-
The problem with J&J vaccines had also caused setback with the Philippines’ plan to get more AstraZeneca stockpiles from the US because of tight vaccine supplies.
Romualdez said that the US is still studying the Philippines’ request to borrow some of the AstraZeneca stockpiles in the US.
“Yung AstraZeneca, meron silang naka-stockpile dito. Yan ang ating tinatrabaho, na again kung puede tayong makahiram sa America ng AstraZeneca, pero pinag-aaralan pa ng mga authorities dito. Hindi natin alam kung makakahabol yan before the end of this month,” he said in the Eagle News exclusive interview.
-More Moderna doses to start arriving starting July-
He said that by July, more doses from Moderna and Pfizer would be arriving from the United States.
Between July to December, the delivery of Moderna vaccine doses would be between 1 million to 2 million until the 20 million doses agreed upon with the company has been delivered.
Secretary Galvez earlier said that the Philippine government has procured 13 million doses of Moderna vaccines, while another seven million doses had been procured by the private sector.
Pfizer’s 117,000 doses thru COVAX Facility would be coming in this May.
“Mabuti at naayos na ang indemnity agreement sa kanila,” Ambassador Romualdez said.
He said that another 2.3 million Pfizer doses would be coming in the first week of June hopefully.
“Tuluy-tuloy na rin tayong kukuha sa kanila ng mga 40 million doses,” Romualdez said.
“Ang tingin ko starting June talaga, dyan magkakaroon na ng maraming supply tuluy-tuloy galing dito sa America,” he said.
Romualdez said that once the US also hits it target of 400 million vaccine doses for its citizens, more vaccine doses would be shared to other countries.
So far, he said many Filipino-American citzens had already been vaccinated in the US.
(Eagle News Service)