United States President Joe Biden’s pledge of $2 billion into the COVAX Facility would help ensure equitable availability of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines to the Philippines and other countries dependent on COVAX for affordable vaccines, AKO-Bicol Party List Representative Alfredo Garbin Jr. on Saturday said.
The US President also urged other rich nations to contribute another $2 billion.
‘’This latest development surely bodes well for our country and other similarly-situated countries striving to defend against and fight COVID-19,’’ Garbin, chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, said.
Garbin explained that a lag time of several weeks is expected because the funds have yet to be transferred and negotiations have yet to be made.
‘’Four billion dollars would not be enough, but it could create momentum for more contributions to bridge the financing gap, which the WHO estimates at $28.2 billion,’’ he said.
‘’It seems to me that contributions to COVAX should also come from the multi-billionaires of the world and the largest global corporations so the remaining gap of $24.2 billion will be filled or bridged,’’ he stressed.