MANILA — The Philippines this week will sign a deal for the purchase of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus from British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca, an official at the lead of the country's COVID-19 vaccination program said Thursday.

Officials will sign the tripartite deal for 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca drug on Friday, said vaccine czar Carlito Galvez.

AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford announced on Monday that their inexpensive, easy-to-produce coronavirus vaccine was either 62 percent or 90 percent effective, depending on the manner in which the doses were given.

• Easy, cheap to produce AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine appears effective

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv

MANILA — The Philippines this week will sign a deal for the purchase of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus from British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca, an official at the lead of the country's COVID-19 vaccination program said Thursday.

Officials and the private sector who donated funds for the vaccine will sign a tripartite deal for 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca drug on Friday, said vaccine czar Carlito Galvez.

"'Pag may nalagdaan po na tripartite agreement, magkakaroon ng expanded partnership ang ating public at private sector," he told reporters.

(Once we sign a tripartite agreement, there will be an expanded partnership between the public and private sectors.)

"Magiging maganda po ang paglaban natin sa pandemic kasi ang mangyayari po, they will co-share iyong responsibility in protecting the economy by vaccinating their own people and their own stakeholders," he added.

(Our fight against the pandemic will improve because they will co-share the responsibility in protecting the economy by vaccinating their own people and their own stakeholders.)

The private sector will fund the vaccine purchase and give half of the doses to the health department and the rest to its employees, billionaire Enrique Razon Jr.'s International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) said earlier this week.

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv Video courtesy of PTV

AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford announced on Monday that their inexpensive, easy-to-produce coronavirus vaccine was either 62 percent or 90 percent effective, depending on the manner in which the doses were given.

• Easy, cheap to produce AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine appears effective

The double jab vaccine is by far the least expensive among frontrunners, at about 2.5 euros or about P143 per dose.

It also has a significant advantage when it comes to transport and storage.

Moderna's vaccine must be kept at -20 degrees Celsius, while Pfizer's requires an even chillier -70C to remain viable. AstraZeneca's vaccine, by contrast, can be stored at the temperature of a normal fridge.

- With a report from Agence France-Presse