12:57 PM MYT
MANILA (Reuters): The Philippines will be able to secure between four to 25 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from Moderna Inc and Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc, the Southeast Asia country s ambassador to Washington said on Friday (Dec 18).
The US companies were ready to supply the vaccines from the third quarter of 2021, Philippine Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez said in a statement, if his government found their proposals acceptable. We are hoping our government will consider the promising candidates of Moderna and Arcturus for inclusion in our country s pool of anti-Covid-19 vaccines, Romualdez said.
The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to grant Moderna emergency use authorisation soon. Arcturus expects to start distributing its vaccine in the first quarter of next year after early stage trials showed promising results.