MANILA • Wealthy nations have already bought up at least 80 per cent of the future supply of Covid-19 vaccines, said a Philippine official.

Covid-19 policy chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr, who is also the designated vaccine czar, said on Wednesday that developing countries such as the Philippines are now scrambling for the remaining supply of the vaccines.

"Eighty per cent of the global market has been taken by the rich countries. Now we are fighting for the 18 per cent because Covax has gotten the other (2) per cent," Mr Galvez said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.

He was referring to the Covax Facility, a global mechanism designed to guarantee rapid, fair and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines worldwide, which the Philippines joined in July.

The former military general explained that the deals were made possible by advance market commitments with pharmaceutical companies.

"If we will not do the advance market commitment, we will be at the tail end of the supply chain," he said during the online forum.

The Philippine government and private companies last week signed a supply agreement with British drugmaker AstraZeneca involving at least two million doses of its vaccine.

This came after President Rodrigo Duterte finally agreed to make advance commitments and advance payments to private vaccine developers to ensure supply for the Philippines, despite expressing reservations in September owing to the country's procurement laws.

Mr Galvez also said the government is in negotiations with other big pharmaceutical companies for potential vaccine deals.

Aside from AstraZeneca, the government is looking into the vaccines developed by China's Sinovac Biotech, Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute and Pfizer of the United States.

PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ ASIA NEWS NETWORK