Philippine Ambassador to Washington, D.C. Jose Manuel Romualdez on Tuesday confirmed the forthcoming delivery of the first batch of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines on June 27 as part of the 20 million doses they have been negotiating with the American pharmaceutical firm.
In a pre-taped Malacañang press briefing, Romualdez said the initial tranche may be “small” in quantity but will be followed by a larger number of deliveries in July, which he estimated to be close to one million doses of the US-manufactured vaccine.
He is expecting the full delivery of the 20 million total procurement of Moderna vaccine to the Philippines sometime in November this year.
It was earlier reported that the first delivery of 250,000 doses of Moderna vaccine will be used to inoculate the rank and file of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the members of the foreign diplomatic community and their respective dependents.
On the 80 million pledge made by US President Joe Biden early this month to help low-income countries to mitigate the pandemic, Romualdez said the Philippines is expected to get close to 800,000 to one million doses of either Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccine by next month.
This, he said, is on top of the half-a-billion doses of vaccines that the Biden administration is planning to donate to the global community, making the United States an “arsenal of vaccines to the world”.
“We’re getting quite a substantial amount of vaccines coming from the United States aside from what we have already negotiated,” the Filipino diplomat said even as the supposed delivery of the initial tranche of Moderna has already been delayed for months.
On Tuesday (Monday evening in Washington, D.C.), the White House has included the Philippines among the “priority” countries that will receive its share from the 55 million doses to be donated by the US government to the global community.
Out of the 55 million vaccine doses, the US government has allocated 16 million for distribution among Asian countries that include the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bhutan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, Cambodia, and the Pacific Islands.