THE government has signed a supply agreement for 40 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine for Covid-19.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Sunday said the deal with Pfizer is by far the “biggest” vaccine procurement contract inked by the government this year.

Galvez said he and Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd signed the contract for the government.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be shipped “after eight weeks starting August,” he said.

The Pfizer doses will be distributed to provinces and regions.

Galvez revealed he and Duque are about to seal the agreement for six million doses of the Janssen vaccine.

The Philippines has secured 113 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from five manufacturers.

Aside from the 40 million Pfizer doses, the government procured 26 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine, 10 million Sputnik V doses, 20 million Moderna doses, and 17 million AstraZeneca doses.

The Covax facility has also committed 44 million doses to the country this year.

Galvez said the agreement for the procurement of around 16 million doses from Novavax and Johnson and Johnson are being negotiated.

The Philippines has administered over eight million Covid-19 doses since it started its vaccination program on March 1.

Galvez cited data from the National Vaccination Operations Center showing as of June 18, a total of 8,050,711 jabs have been administered.

Of this figure, 5,953,810 were for the first dose.

Galvez said the government has inoculated 1,053,373 health care workers, which make up the top priority for inoculation.

A total of 536,476 senior citizens, 498,925 persons with comorbidities, and 8,127 economic frontliners have been fully vaccinated, he said.

At least 23,800 indigent residents were given the first dose.

He said with the steady arrival of vaccines, the government is confident it will meet its target of having more than 184 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines before the year ends.

Galvez also said three experts from Israel’s Ministry of Health will be in the Philippines from June 20 to 25 to share their experiences on vaccine deployment.

“We want to learn from the best practices being implemented in Israel and hopef ully, replicate and use them in crafting our country’s policies,” he said.

He said vaccine hesitancy is being addressed as more doses become available, and more senior citizens are willing to get a shot.

Galvez also reported the use of the Sinovac vaccine has significantly increased.

The country recorded its highest daily vaccination rate of 322,929 jabs on June 15.

For two consecutive weeks this month, the country maintained a weekly vaccination rate of more than one million per week. From June 12 to 18, the country administered 1,252,234 doses.

“We will sustain our momentum, as we expect a steady supply of vaccines in the coming weeks and months,” Galvez said.

The government aims to vaccinate 50 million to 70 million people this year to achieve herd containment.

The country logged 5,803 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total to 1.359 million, the Department of Health (DoH) reported.

It said 7,652 new recoveries raised the total to 1.277 million.

The death toll climbed to 23,621 with 84 new fatalities.

The occupancy rate of intensive care units (ICUs) in the National Capital Region (NCR) is 43 percent, the DoH said. Isolation beds are at 38 percent and ward beds at 32 percent.

OCTA Research noted a rise in new cases in Davao City, Bacolod, Iloilo City, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga City, Baguio City, Dumaguete, Butuan, General Santos, and Cebu City, from June 13 to 19.

Dumaguete had the highest average daily attack rate (ADAR) of 43.80. Iloilo City had a 25.83 ADAR, and Bacolod had 22.49.

The ADAR in the NCR is 5.43, OCTA said.