THE Philippine government expressed its appreciation to its international partner-nations for their vaccine donations to the country.
The government’s gratitude was relayed by National Task Force Against COVID 19 (NTF) chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr., who thanked the country’s partner-nations such as the United States, China, Japan, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Brunei, Australia, France, European Union and Germany for the vaccine donations they provided through the COVAX-GAVI facility, as well as direct donations to the country.
The donations substantially increased the country’s supply of Sinovac, Pfizer-BioNTech, Astrazeneca and Moderna. These donations also facilitated the Philippines’ initial supply of Johnson & Johnson and Sinopharm vaccines.
He likewise thanked vaccine manufacturing countries like China, Russia, and US for giving access to the Philippine government.
The World Health Organization (WHO) was also cited by Galvez for its holistic pandemic response efforts, particularly in its effective management and deployment of life-saving doses to countries which needed them the most, and for controlling the spread of the virus.
US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Heather Variava underscored the need for cooperation and collaboration among countries in the global fight against COVID-19.
“This gives a great example of partnerships that have taken place to make this happen. It takes the government, whether the Philippines or the United States. It takes international development finance partners like ADB. It takes companies like Pfizer to provide safe and very effective vaccines,” Variava said.
“By working together with all of us, we can make a huge difference in the lives of the people of the Philippines and bring improvements to their lives, education, and economy,” she added.
Pfizer representative Eddie Reyes reaffirmed the company’s support to the Philippines’ COVID-19 vaccination program.
“We are in solidarity with all other countries around the world in helping and supporting different countries to put an end to this pandemic. We are very happy to be part of the suppliers to help bring in at least a hundred million doses,” Reyes said.
According to Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director Kelly Bird, this latest milestone in the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program will help “restore consumer and business confidence and a safe reopening of the economy.”
“We are very happy with the progress of our loan. We have committed 98% of the loan for financing vaccines and all vaccines under the loan must be delivered by the end of this year,” said Bird.
ADB financed the Philippine government’s procurement of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines through a multilateral loan worth US$400 million.
Apart from the ADB, the Philippine vaccine procurement is also being financed by multilateral loans from the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
Galvez thanked these institutions and gave the assurance that the Philippine government will continue to partner with them in securing the country’s vaccine supply for next year.
More than 105.65 million doses of the country’s vaccine supply for 2021 were secured through multilateral financing through ADB, World Bank, and AIIB.