The Philippines is desperately scrambling to procure even the coronavirus vaccine leftovers particularly from Western countries that suspend the use of AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson brands due to reported cases of side effects.
In a tweet on Thursday night, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. directed his department to look into reports that Denmark is willing to share the more than 200,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines it earlier procured following reports of “rare blood clots combined with low platelet counts that have occurred in Europe and Britain.”
“There you go. DFAPHL contact me about this tomorrow morning (Friday),” the foreign secretary said.
Even Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez admitted in a webinar on Wednesday that there has been a “setback” in the country’s procurement of US-made jabs after Washington recommended a pause on the use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six recipients reportedly experienced “rare and severe” type of blood clot.
Also this week, a group of Filipino-American lobbyists and US-based organizations sent US President Joe Biden a letter requesting for the “immediate release” of five million doses of Moderna vaccines by May instead of the original target delivery of June, citing the “dire” situation of COVID-19 infections in the Philippines.
The Philippines has ordered a total of 25 million doses of Moderna vaccines from the United States, according to National Task Force-COVID-19 chief Carlito Galvez Jr.
World Bank President David Malpass earlier called on countries to contribute their "excess" doses of COVID-19 vaccines to low-income countries, noting that affluent nations are hoarding doses to cover double or triple their populations.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez echoed the call made by Malpass saying that the Philippines “fully rolling out” its nationwide vaccination program aimed at inoculating at least 60 percent of the adult population by end of 2021.
A total of $1.7 billion in funds has been set aside by the Philippines for procurement, logistics, and rollout of vaccines. The bulk of which, or $1.2 billion, came from loans extended by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).