MANILA - Small businesses who want to take part in a private sector push to secure COVID-19 vaccines for their employees are urged to pool their orders, a Presidential adviser in charge of the initiative said on Monday.

Joey Concepcion, Go Negosyo founder and Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship, said Unilab has been appointed to handle private sector orders for the Covovax vaccine, and has set the minimum order at 200 doses.

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Smaller companies meanwhile may purchase by consolidating their orders, which also extend to family members of each employee given that the administration still follows the government’s prioritization, Concepcion said.

The Covovax vaccine was developed by Novavax and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII).

Concepcion said Go Negosyo’s last private sector briefing on Novavax vaccines had more than 1,500 participants representing 800 companies—breaking all the attendance in any vaccine briefing that the group has conducted.

“We have never hit this number of people ever since we’ve launched the ‘A Dose of Hope,’ so that shows that everybody here is eager to get out of this pandemic,” Concepcion said.

He said the indicative cost for the vaccine is currently set at P1,000 per dose, exclusive of VAT, inclusive of logistics and delivery nationwide to government-approved vaccination hospitals and sites.

This however does not include the cost of administering the vaccine which depends on the hospital or site where the vaccination will be administered.

Last year Concepcion led a private sector initiative to secure AstraZeneca vaccines.

The Philippines has secured around 17 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine so far, good for 8.5 million Filipinos, with the help of private firms and local governments.

Last month, SII signed a term sheet with the Philippine government to secure 30 million doses of Covovax.

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