White House includes PH among countries to receive US surplus COVID vaccines
By Roy Mabasa
The United States government has included the Philippines among the countries to receive the first batch of coronavirus vaccines as earlier promised by US President Joe Biden, Philippine Ambassador to Washington, D.C. Jose Manuel Romualdez said Friday.

In an interview over DZZM, Romualdez said he received a call from the White House informing him of the decision of the Biden administration to include the Philippines among the recipients of possibly Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.
The vaccines, according to Romualdez, will be given for free by the US government following the recent announcement made by President Biden that the US will allot 80 million from its vaccine surplus to respond to the global health crisis.
“Ang pagkasabi sa amin, although wala pa yung amount, sabi nila as soon as possible. Siguro naman di naman tatagal ng more than a month (What we were told, although there was no mention of the amount, is that it will be as soon as possible. I assume it will not take more than a month),” the Philippine envoy said.
The Philippines is also expected to receive its first procurement of a total of two million doses from the US this June, including the batch of more than 200,000 Moderna jabs which Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. earlier said is intended for his department’s rank and file employees and their families, and for the members of the diplomatic corps in the Philippines.
While they are expecting a small amount of Moderna delivery in June, according to Romualdez, adding that the bulk of US-made vaccines like Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer will likely to arrive no later than the end of July or August.