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PH eyeing 178 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for 92 million Filipinos
PH eyeing 178 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for 92 million Filipinos
The Philippines intends to negotiate for 178 million doses of coronavirus vaccines that would be good for 92 million Filipinos, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez announced Monday night.
In a meeting with President Duterte and other government officials, Dominguez bared that the government decided to secure additional supply due to the delays in the manufacturing and delivery of the vaccines.
The coronavirus vaccines will be sourced from AstraZeneca , Pfizer, Novavax, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson and Sinovac, according to Dominguez.
The government originally intended to secure 148 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to benefit 70 million Filipinos.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said they have so far locked in 108 million doses and may finalize the supply deals next week.
“This is our program. We need to vaccinate around 70 million. We have negotiations, tayo at saka (we and the) private sector for around 178 million doses good for 92 million people," Dominguez said.
"We have negotiated for 92 million kasi nababasa natin sa dyaryo may mga slippage, may delay in delivery (we have read in the newspapers about the delay, slippage, delay in deliveries). There is delay in Europe, in the US so to be safe, we are negotiating more than what we need of 70 million," he added.
Dominguez further said: "We really expect delays but delay is not our fault because we have the money, we are ready. Ang delay sa 'yung manufacturing."
At present, Dominguez said the government will have three approaches in vaccine purchase, namely through multilateral agencies, partnership with the private sector, and partnership with the local government units.
Under the multilateral approach, Dominguez said the government would source $1.38 billion from foreign lenders such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank (WB) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
"This will fund a total of 106 million doses of vaccines with the value of US $1.2 billion plus we have 40 million doses of vaccines under COVAX. Our contribution to COVAX is only $84 million," he said.
Dominguez said around 146 to 148 million COVID doses would vaccinate 76 million adults "more than 100 percent of the adult population.”
"Ngayon yung mga aged 1-18 years na hindi puwede ma-vaccinate (The population aged 1 to 18 years old who cannot be vaccinated) is around 40 million so we have to vaccinate around 70 million," he said.
The government expects the delivery of the first batch of the coronavirus vaccines this month.
As soon as the supplies arrive in the country, the government plans to prioritize health workers, the elderly, poor citizens, and uniformed personnel in the immunization drive.
Priority areas for vaccination are Metro Manila and other areas heavily affected by COVID cases.
The vaccine rollout comes as the country's cases of coronavirus soared past the 500,000 level mark.
The government has kept the general community quarantine status in Metro Manila and several areas to curb the spread of the illness.