The Department of Health (DOH) said that the US government recently donated different health equipment and logistic kits to the Philippines in order to boost the country's response against the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a statement on Sunday, Aug. 7, the DOH said the US government donated 18,000 rapid antigen and other test kits, as well as “TaqPath Covid testing reagents” for the Philippine Genome Center, "which allows for 10,000 more tests."
The US government also donated an assortment of personal protective equipment and "more than 100 WASH kits for schools and the Manila City Health Department."
“Working with the international community has helped keep Filipinos and Philippines health systems at low risk through the worst parts of this pandemic,” said DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire.
Aside from these donations, the US government has donated over 33 million life-saving vaccine doses to the Philippines through the vaccine sharing platform Covax Facility, since the pandemic started, the DOH said.
These vaccines include Pfizer, Moderna, and Janssen, the DOH said. The Health department has committed to intensify the vaccination efforts.
The agency said it will be “closely working” with the different local government units to “ensure all school-aged children will have access to the additional doses donated by the US government.”
“We’ve come a long way from when this virus first hit our shores. With all the tools and resources we now have, we are capable of protecting our children and providing them the safe and much-needed face to face education that they deserve,” said Vergeire.
“We will continue to actively collaborate with our partners to ensure that all of our communities are safe,” she added.
With the upcoming resumption of in-person classes, Vergeire previously said that vaccination sites will be set up in different schools to encourage eligible children to get vaccinated to protect themselves against Covid-19.
Vergeire said they will coordinate with the Department of Education (DepEd) in drafting the guidelines for the establishment of these school-based inoculation sites.