Unilab and Faberco Agree to Provide Filipino Workers Access to Vaccine
Two pharmaceutical companies, Unilab, Inc. (Unilab) and Fabreco Life Sciences, Inc. (Faberco), signed an agreement to make Covovax Vaccine available to Filipino employees working in the private sector.
The Covovax Vaccine is developed by Novavax and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII). Novovax is a company based in Maryland, USA while SII is the biggest vaccine manufacturer in the world.
The agreement is subject to approval by the National Task Force Against COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH), and the Emergency Use Application (EUA) evaluation by the Philippine Vaccine Expert Panel and the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Under the agreement, Faberco, the authorized distributor of Covovax Vaccines in the Philippines, appointed Unilab as its authorized partner to distribute the vaccine among the private sector.
Faberco Founder Kishore Hemlani stated, “Unilab and Faberco share the same vision and advocacy in terms of providing access to as many Filipinos at the soonest possible time. We are prepared to help the Philippine government in protecting the people by enabling more access to COVID-19 vaccines through the private sector.”
Senior Vice President for Social Partnerships of Unilab Atty. Jose Maria A. Ochave added, “This initiative is not for a business purpose but to help the country secure more vaccine allocations. The vaccines will be made available to the private sector, especially hospitals and essential industries, with the condition that they are made available at no cost to their employees, and, depending on the company’s financial capability, also to their employees’ families and their selected communities”.
She also noted that “The distribution and administration of the vaccine will be strictly subject to the guidelines set forth by the Department of Health, including those pertaining to pharmacovigilance.”
Faberco is the partner of SII in the Philippines. Earlier this year, SII signed a term sheet with the Philippine government to secure 30 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
