
MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) hopes to establish the country’s first local vaccine manufacturing site by next year, according to an official on Friday.
In a media briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire stated that a feasibility study on the Philippines’ “Vaccine Self-Reliance Project” is currently ongoing and is expected to be completed by November of this year.
The official mentioned that once the study is completed, the government may proceed with other procedures to establish the manufacturing facility.
“We are already doing parallel discussions with foreign vaccine manufacturers and local partners and we’re with the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Trade and Industry on this, so hopefully once the feasibility study is finished, we can already start doing the other things so that we can set it up by next year,” she said in Filipino.
In May, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez stated that various companies have expressed an interest in manufacturing vaccines in the country, but the government has yet to reveal their names.
These firms are currently in discussion with possible international manufacturers and technology providers from India, South Korea, China, and possibly the United States and Australia.
If the conditions are favorable, vaccine manufacturing activities might begin as early as the fourth quarter of this year, or as early as the second or third quarter of 2022.