A US-based company Novavax Inc is said to be interested in building a manufacturing plant in the country to produce a vaccine against COVD-19.
Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez explained that Novavax has an agreement with the Serum Institute in India. Still, they want to build it in the Philippines and plan to build it at Clark Airbase Pampanga.
The American company Arcturus Therapeutics also plans to build a manufacturing plant in the country for the Asian market.
San Diego-based Arcturus allegedly makes Johnson and Johnson vaccines and is studying whether it can be built here for the Asian market.
Manuel V Pangilinan of Metro Pacific Investments Corp (MPIC) said it is also interested in building a COVID vaccine manufacturing plant in the country.
In March, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said the Philippines had sealed the deal for 30 million doses of the Novavax vaccine.
“Naging maganda ang resulta ng pagbiyahe natin sa India no’ng isang linggo. Doon, napirmahan na po namin ang supply agreement kung saan ang Serum Institute of India ay magsu-supply ng 30 million doses ng Novavax sa ating bansa,” he said.
Novavax interested in building COVID-19 vaccine plant in Philippines
Novavax Inc said in January that its COVID-19 vaccine was 89.3% effective in preventing COVID-19 in a trial conducted in the United Kingdom.
“It’s not statistically different. The vaccine basically works well in the predominant strain circulating in the UK, which means it’s like to be equally effective in the United States,” John Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, said.
Meanwhile, almost 3 months after starting the vaccine rollout in the country, more than 5 million Filipinos have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 1.2 million have completed 2 doses.
It is said to be higher than the government’s target of 4 million vaccinations before the end of May.
According to vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., 500,000 vaccines per day are needed in Metro Manila and 8 other places to achieve herd immunity in November.
With the arrival of more vaccines, vaccination will also begin in June for the A4 priority group or workers in the private sector, government agencies, and informal sector.
Visit our Facebook page for more news updates.