The Republic of the Philippines began producing its own vaccine in the 1940’s and by 1989, the facility had an annual production of 7 million doses of freeze-dried BCG,  between 5- 6 million doses of Tetanus and 250,000 to 700,000 doses of Cholera Typhoid and El Tor vaccines and a host of other vaccines such as Rabies and Tuberculosis. However, due to several issues, the production of vaccines stopped in 2014. 

Leading the way towards vaccine self-reliance is the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM). RITM is a center for excellence in health research and its mission is to conduct globally competitive research and provide relevant, quality health services to protect Filipinos against infectious, tropical and dermatological diseases.

RITM conceptualized the Vaccine Self-Reliance Project (VSRP) to support the operationalization of the Philippine Development Plan and address challenges posed by growing local demand for these biological products. The Philippine Development Plan 2017-2020 had placed emphasis on the construction of vaccine production facilities and biosafety laboratories under Chapter 19 Subsector Outcome 2. In line with the 10-point Socioeconomic Agenda of the Duterte Administration, which explicitly states that PPPs shall play a key role in accelerating annual infrastructure spending, RITM is looking at the possibility of implementing the VSRP as a PPP.    DOH also expects the Project to have its own staff to maximize technology knowledge transfer over time.