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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider PH to receive 44 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX

PH to receive 44 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX

Published Feb 4, 2021 02:19 pm

The Philippines is expected to receive a total of 44 million doses of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccines through the COVAX Facility, an official of the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe (WHO Philippines official facebook page/ MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

WHO Country Representative to the Philippines Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe on Thursday said that 9.2 million doses out of the 44 million doses are expected to arrive in the country within the first and second quarter of this year.

Abeyansinghe said that the delivery of vaccines will start "once the Philippine government fulfills the necessary arrangements needed by the COVAX to ensure smooth vaccine rollout and other requirements of the vaccine manufacturers Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals."

"When all of those requirements are met and we believe that the Philippines is on track to do that, we are looking potentially at a maximum of 9.2 million doses coming through the COVAX facility by March or April of this year," said Abeyansinghe in a statement.

"We are optimistic that the remainder of the 44 million doses will come later on in the year," he added.

To note, the COVAX facility is a global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to coronavirus vaccines for all countries.

"The goal of COVAX is to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world to minimize the impact of the pandemic, to save lives, and to facilitate quick economic recovery," said Abeyasinghe.

Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III assured that cold chain facilities in the country are now ready to store COVID-19 vaccines.

"We have been implementing immunization for decades already, and most of these vaccines that are forthcoming would be currently for the logistical side 2 to 8 degrees. We already have these kinds of facilities and equipment," he said.

"With these ultra-low freezers, we have end-to-end agreements with manufacturers where they will assist us from the time that the vaccines arrive here to the storage and the distribution," he added.

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