MVP Group to help government distribute, store COVID-19 vaccine

MANILA, Philippines — The MVP Group of tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan is in talks with the government for possible participation in the logistics and warehousing requirements of a COVID-19 vaccine.

In a briefing on Wednesday, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) president and CEO Jose Ma. Lim said the listed conglomerate through its logistics arm may be able to provide the storage and distribution requirements of a coronavirus vaccine.

“We are interested in this. We have refrigerated warehousing capacity... we are in talks with the government to find out the requirements,” Lim said.

The Duterte administration, through Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC), is already preparing to bring to the country much needed vaccines against COVID-19.

Last July, Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez announced that PITC would be tasked to bring in the vaccines roughly valued at P20 billion for 40 million Filipinos, around half of who are from the poorest of the poor and in the priority list of recipients.

The Department of Health (DOH) shall determine the vaccine requirements.

This will be financed by state-owned LandBank of the Philippines (LBP) and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), to be paid by DOH in about two to three years.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said that private importers can course through PITC the importation of vaccines to be made available and affordable for the rest of the Filipinos.

Lim said MPIC can participate in this process through MPIC’s MetroPac Movers Inc. (MMI).

Last February, MMI announced that it is building the country’s most modern logistics hub in Sta. Rosa City in Laguna.

The facility will rise on a 52,000-square meter site along the Sta. Rosa - Tagaytay Road. It will have a dry goods warehouse and a refrigerated warehouse that will offer 17,500 pallet positions.

MMI is targeting to open the facility within the second quarter of 2021 with both warehouses to lead the industry in product security systems, radio frequency inventory control systems, fire and safety systems, staff training and expertise, and will offer truly international standard facilities and services to the Philippine market.

Lim said the refrigerated warehouse would set a new benchmark for food safety, storage and handling systems, and will offer storage temperatures between +20 to -25 degrees Celsius.

In 2016, the MVP Group made its foray into the logistics business, hitching a ride on the growing e-commerce business in the country.

Advance procurement

Meanwhile, the government is eyeing to place an advance procurement of 24 million vaccines against the coronavirus disease by the first quarter of 2021, National Task Force against COVID-19 response chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said yesterday.

Galvez told ANC that Filipinos may start using COVID-19 vaccines by May 2021 if things develop according to plan.

He said the initial batch of vaccines will be for frontliners, indigents and the vulnerable sectors.

The inoculation rollout will largely depend on the financing, development and approval of the vaccines.

“If everything will go well, the earliest is May. Should there be roadblocks on supply and demand, the earliest that the program may begin is by the end of 2021,” Galvez said.

“Our vaccine roadmap spans three to five years. It’s also possible to look at the demand and supply of the vaccine. The World Bank presentation indicates that before the end of 2020, only 1.4 billion vaccines will be produced,” he said.

Galvez said that “the demand from big countries is more than that, so far.”

“We will really have a hard time, that’s why we’re appealing to the WHO to ensure equitable access,” he said, adding the country has a “standby fund” which will enable procurement over and above what could be allocated in next year’s budget as approved by Congress.

The Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD) has received an application from multinational Chinese company Clover Biopharmaceuticals for the conduct of Phase 3 clinical trials of their candidate COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines.

Dr. Jaime Montoya said Clover Biopharmaceuticals was the fourth entity which has submitted an application for Phase 3 clinical trials after China’s Sinovac; Russia’s Gamaleya Institute which developed the candidate COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V, and US’ Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

The DOST-PCHRD had shelled out the P89.1 million fund for Phase 3 clini-cal trials to be conducted here by foreign institutions and pharmaceutical companies developing potential vac-cines against the coronavirus. – Jose Rodel Clapano, Rainier Allan Ronda