There are three countries that have pledged to give 5.5 million doses of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines to the country for free, the country's vaccine czar bared Monday, Aug. 23.
Without mentioning the specific countries involved, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said among the vaccine donations are 1.5 million doses of American jab Pfizer and one million doses of British-Swedish vaccine AstraZeneca.
Further, an additional three million doses of COVID-19 vaccines are also going to be delivered to the country although Galvez did not specify its brand.
"Nagsabi na po ang tatlong bansa na magdo-donate sila ng 1.5 million na Pfizer at one million na AstraZeneca at meron pa pong isang bansa na baka magdonate po ng three million (Three countries have already communicated to us that they will donate 1.5 million Pfizer, one million AstraZeneca, and another country might also donate three million doses)," Galvez said at a ceremonial vaccination program in San Mateo Rizal that marked the administration of 30 million COVID-19 vaccines in the country.
The vaccines are expected to be delivered starting September in addition to the expected 10 to 15 million doses of procured vaccines that the country will receive.
The task force official credited President Duterte's "good" bilateral relationships with other nations for the vaccine donations.
"Napakaganda po ng relationship niya sa mga bansang ito at kami po ay natutuwa dahil maraming tumutulong sa ating vaccination program (He has good relationship with these countries and we are happy because there are a lot that are helping us in out vaccination program)," Galvez stated.
Since February, the government has received 48,522,890 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
It includes around 13.30 million donated jabs from the COVAX facility, a global vaccine sharing initiative; and 2.1 million doses acquired through bilateral donations.
A total of 30,389,160 vaccine doses were administered nationwide as of Aug. 22, of which, 17.25 million Filipinos have received their first dose while 13.13 were fully vaccinated.
The fully vaccinated individuals represent 17 percent of the total 77 million eligible population that the government aims to vaccine by the end of 2021 to achieve herd immunity, Galvez noted.