(Eagle News) — Over nine million COVID-19 vaccine doses from the COVAX facility are expected to arrive in the Philippines by April this year.
The Department of Health said in a statement the 9.2 million vaccine doses are part of the 44 million vaccine doses allocated under the facility that aims to ensure all countries have access to COVID-19 vaccines.
World Health Organization Representative to the Philippines Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe said in the statement “the remainder of the 44 million doses will come later on in the year.”
The DOH said the delivery will start once the Philippine government “fulfills the necessary arrangements needed by the COVAX facilities to ensure smooth vaccine rollout and other requirements of the vaccine manufacturers Pfizer BioNTech and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.”
The Philippines has been meeting its timetable in making ready the cold-chain facilities and its manpower, the department said.
According to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, “most of these vaccines that are forthcoming would be currently for logistical side 2 to 8 degrees” and the Philippines already has the needed facilities and equipment.
“With these ultra-low freezers, we have end-to-end agreements with manufacturers where they will assist us from the time that the vaccines arrive here to the storage and the distribution,” he said.
“Now that we have successfully secured safe and effective vaccines for our people, we are now working to align the deployment and vaccination plan up to the local government units. The current global supply of COVID-19 vaccines is scarce, hence we are ensuring that there will be no wastage in our COVID-19 immunization program,” he added.
The government has said it was targeting COVID-19 vaccination of 50 to 60 percent of the population to achieve herd immunity.
Herd immunity takes place when most of the population is immune to an infectious disease, thereby giving indirect protection to the rest.
