The Duterte administration has tapped the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a fresh $250 million loan to help the Philippines in securing additional coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine supply.
The Manila-based multilateral institution said on Monday, Dec. 13, that it has approved the new loan to the government to fund the procurement of more COVID-19 vaccines.
The fresh financing, equivalent to roughly P12.57 billion, will allow the government to purchase 40 million additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines for eligible children and booster shots for adults, ADB said.
Sakiko Tanaka, ADB principal social sector specialist for Southeast Asia said the bank is supporting the government’s drive to provide vaccines to protect its citizens and save lives, especially with the emergence of new COVID-19 variants.
“The Philippines has continuously enhanced its capacities for testing, tracing, isolating, and treating COVID-19 cases and vigorously pursued COVID-19 inoculation for its population,” Tanaka said.
“Vaccination will allow the health system to better manage the effects of the virus and will help sustain economic recovery. It is key to the country’s full recovery from the pandemic,” he added.
The loan, the Second Health System Enhancement to Address and Limit COVID-19 under the Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (HEAL2) Additional Financing, will be cofinanced by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
The new assistance builds on ADB’s active support for the country’s overall COVID-19 health response and its universal health care program.
Under the amended Health System Enhancement to Address and Limit COVID-19, approved last January, ADB provided advance payments for vaccines and purchases of microsyringes and other vaccine-related items.
It also financed investments in health infrastructure to complement vaccine financing, such as the upgrading of laboratories and construction of isolation facilities.
Through HEAL2, approved in March 2021, ADB helped purchase 85.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines through bilateral agreements, with 81 percent of the supply delivered as of Dec. 2, 2021, and made up about half of the country’s vaccine supply.
More than 98 percent of the funds from HEAL2 have been committed for vaccine supply contracts as of Dec. 6, 2021.
These supply contracts have helped the government expand its national COVID-19 vaccination program.
As of Dec. 8, 2021, more than 57 million Filipinos, or nearly 65 percent of the Philippines’ target population, had been vaccinated with at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.