A top official of the United States Embassy in Manila on Tuesday said the US is honored to continuously contribute to the Philippines’ COVID-19 response following the latest delivery of nearly 2.6 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses to the country.
Newly designated US Embassy Charge d’Affaires Heather Variava joined Philippine government officials and other stakeholders at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to welcome the arrival of 2,020,590 doses on September 19 and 561,600 doses on September 20.
The latest vaccine deliveries to the Philippines were part of the 500 million doses of Pfizer the United States is making available for distribution through COVAX, a global initiative to support equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
“With the arrival of more than 2.58 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine co-procured by the US, we are honored to be able to continuously contribute to the Philippines’ COVID-19 response. Glad to join Sec. (Carlito) Galvez for the arrival of the two shipments,” Variava said in a tweet.
As the largest donor to the COVAX facility, the US has already facilitated the delivery of more than 16 million vaccine doses to the Philippines through COVAX, including more than nine million doses donated by the American people.
Throughout the pandemic, the US has worked closely with Philippine stakeholders to protect public health and support the local response to COVID-19.
To date, the total US government COVID-19 assistance to the Philippines amounts to over P1.9 billion ($39 million).