COVAX secured AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines for the Philippines. Learn all about this organisation here:
The first batch of COVID-19 vaccine doses committed by the COVAX Facility to the Philippines has arrived in Manila on 4 March 2021. The country received more than 480,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines thanks to this international partnership.
"At an early stage during this pandemic, it quickly became apparent that to end this global crisis we don’t just need COVID-19 vaccines, we also need to ensure that everyone in the world has access to them. This triggered global leaders to call for a solution that would accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as diagnostics and treatments, and guarantee rapid, fair and equitable access to them for people in all countries," said Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Did you know that the Philippines is among the first countries in Southeast Asia to receive vaccines from the COVAX Facility? "The long days and nights of waiting are finally over,” says Department of Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III. Officials from the Philippines’ Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), Department of Health (DOH), World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF Philippines saw to the safe transfer of the doses that arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on 4 March 2021. The Philippine Government will spearhead the rollout of the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination roll-out.
Read more: Sinovac Vaccine Arrives In The Philippines On 28 February 2021
Duque continues, saying that “these vaccines will be of great help to our valiant healthcare workers who have been at the forefront of the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. With every dose that we will administer, we are inching towards a safer recovery from this pandemic. So, let us put our trust in science, in vaccines. Together, we will rise as a nation and heal as one”.
Echoing Duque’s hopeful sentiments is Dr Rabindra Abeyasinghe, WHO Representative to the Philippines. She shares: “WHO joins partners and the people of the Philippines in welcoming the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility. These vaccines coming through COVAX will help protect up to 20 per cent of the population in the country during this year, including healthcare workers, other frontline workers and the elderly – groups who are most at risk. We all welcome the addition of vaccines to the available tools in the country which, when used to scale, will contribute to a gradual return of day-to-day activities and economic revival in the country. The delivery of COVID-19 vaccines in the Philippines is a powerful step in that direction”.
Thanks to COVAX The Philippines is indeed progressing towards a brighter future. Read about COVAX and the organisations behind the project, here, namely: Gavi, CEPI, UNICEF, The World Bank, and WHO.
