(PhilStar) MANILA, Philippines — The country is expecting the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to be supplied by the COVAX Facility as early as next month, composed mostly of what the government said were delayed batches, the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 said yesterday.

NTF chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said about seven million to eight million doses could be delivered in May.

“We will be having what we call accelerated deliveries this coming May and June. This coming May, maybe we can have about seven to eight million. We are just waiting because there were delays with COVAX,” Galvez said in an interview aired over Teleradyo.

Last month, Galvez announced a delay in the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to be supplied by the World Health Organization-led COVAX, citing logistical issues faced by vaccine manufacturing companies in countries where they are situated, like the Serum Institute of India, which had to address new waves of infections in the South Asian country.

COVAX is a global initiative that seeks equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for member countries.

Galvez said the global production and delivery of vaccines in Europe was also affected, but that the constrictions in vaccine production are expected to stabilize in June.

“We are just waiting for the delayed supplies because, with the COVAX (batches), had there been no delays, we could have gotten over six million (doses) of Pfizer and AstraZeneca,” he explained.

“That’s what we’re waiting for. Just in case we can have other supplies from COVAX, it’s going to reach, before the end of June, we can get more or less 10 to 15 million (doses),” Galvez said.

The Philippines is currently administering the China-made CoronaVac vaccine, and British drugmaker AstraZeneca’s vaccine. Galvez said the country hopes to have a portfolio of at least seven vaccine brands this year.

Meanwhile, the NTF also announced that the shipment of 15,000 doses of Gamaleya Institute’s Sputnik V vaccine, which was scheduled to arrive Sunday, has been pushed to Wednesday due to “logistical reasons.”

At least one to two million doses of Sputnik V are also expected to be shipped next month, with two million more expected in the next delivery in June. Sinovac is also expected to deliver two million doses next month and 4.5 million in June.

Galvez earlier said Pfizer—whose scheduled delivery of vaccines to the country last month was snagged by the lack of an indemnity clause—is expected to deliver 195,000 doses by the end of the month.

He said an initial 194,000 doses of Moderna vaccine could “hopefully” arrive next month.

The government is also looking to secure negotiations soon for five to 10 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The government’s total vaccine budget for this year is P82.5 billion, coming from Bayanihan 2 funds, total unprogrammed appropriations, and funds from the Department of Health—with the aim of vaccinating 50 to 70 million Filipinos by the end of the year.