MANILA, Philippines — If President Rodrigo Duterte really wanted to secure Pfizer’s vaccine early, why did it take him two months to allow advance payment to be made to the American pharmaceutical giant? In the months in between, advanced economies like New Zealand, Canada, and the European Union secured deals with Pfizer. In July, Pfizer said it could manufacture 100 million doses by year-end. It was not until late November, however, that Duterte approved advance payment to Pfizer. The Philippines, through a private initiative, has secured only 2.6 million doses from British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer December 17, 2020 21:33 UTC