The White House is set to announce any time this week the distribution of the first batch of vaccine surplus that will be donated by the United States government to its allies, including the Philippines, Ambassador to Washington, D.C. Jose Manuel Romualdez said Monday.
“I was informed by the White House the other day that President Biden is going to announce this week the distribution of 80 million vaccines that are available for the world,” Romualdez said during a pre-taped televised interview with Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque.
The Philippine envoy, however, said he is not certain how many doses of vaccines the Philippines will be getting in the first batch that will be given by the US government “without any strings attached” to it.
“It’s just really part of the program they have in helping other nations to be able to fight this virus but the Philippines definitely will receive on the first batch of the 80 million that President Biden will announce sometime this week,” he said.
On May 17, President Biden has announced that the United States will be sending a total of 80 million vaccines overseas in the next six weeks, specifically the AstraZeneca jabs produced in the US.
Biden said the US will also send with the rest of the world US-made Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines “as they become available”.
In the same interview with Roque, the Filipino diplomat also confirmed that certain US pharmaceutical companies have expressed interest to invest in the Philippines through a joint venture in vaccine-manufacturing plants.
This, he said, was discussed during a recently concluded virtual forum attended by potential US investors and representatives from the Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Department of Health (DOH).
He said the Philippines is pushing for the New Clark City as a possible location for these potential investments considering the presence of the multinational giant cargo handler, Fedex which is setting up one of its biggest hubs in Asia.
All these talks are still in the planning stage and are part of the ongoing promotions being conducted by the Embassy’s economic team.