Vaccines against coronavirus disease may be available in the Philippines by first quarter next year, much earlier than previously targeted, the Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday.

FDA director general Eric Domingo made the statement after the United Kingdom approved the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use and is expected to be rolled out next week.

He said when a pharmaceutical company seeks FDA's approval, it could take only three to four weeks to process.

"When they apply to us by first week of January, we can issue the emergency use authorization. (The vaccination) may be done earlier. There can be a chance that by March, there will a vaccine in the Philippines," Domingo said.

National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez, who is also the vaccine czar, earlier said the "best case scenario" to conduct COVID-19 mass vaccination could be by second quarter or middle of the year while the "most realistic scenario" is end of the year next year or early 2022.

Asked of the possible vaccines which could be first available in the country, Domingo said, "May be those with EUA like Pfizer, also Sinovac, Sinopharm, Moderna, AstraZeneca."

He said these pharmaceutical companies are applying to make their respective vaccines available in the country.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed on December 1 an executive order for the FDA director general to issue EUA for COVID-19 vaccines.

With the EUA, the FDA could cut the processing time from six months to about 21 days. Celerina Monte/DMS