MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine government will receive a total of nine million doses of vaccines against the Influenza A (H1N1) virus from the World Health Organization (WHO) in the coming months.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and WHO Director General Margaret Chan announced Thursday that both parties signed an agreement wherein the WHO would turn over H1N1 flu vaccines to the Philippine government as part of its pledge to give developing countries access to the newly developed vaccines.

The Philippine government on the other hand committed to register and authorize the use of the vaccines and to notify WHO of the occurrence of any unexpected “adverse events,” among others.

In a news conference, Chan said the first deliveries of the vaccines, about 1.2 million doses, would arrive before the end of the year.

Duque said they would prioritize giving the vaccines to about 400,000 frontline health workers at “higher risk of getting the disease than ordinary people due to the larger probability of exposure.”

“They may also unknowingly transmit the infections to their families and other patients with other illnesses,” he added.

“The vaccines will be given free of charge and will be given to those who will volunteer,” Duque stressed.

Next in the priority list after health workers, according to Duque, are pregnant women because they are 10 times more at risk of needing intensive care if infected compared to the general population.

This is followed by those with chronic medical conditions aged six months to 59 years old; then children five years old and below and adults beyond 60 years old (healthy or otherwise) because they are considered to be at the “highest risk of severe infection"; and lastly, the remainder of the population.

To reports of some cases in other countries of fatal allergic reactions to the H1N1 flu vaccines, Chan said the rate of side effects was “within the expected range.”

She said the vaccines, whose production was rushed in response to the outbreak of a novel influenza virus in May, have been administered to more than 17 million people.

“If you look at the scale and the large number of people vaccinated with the vaccine, the rate of side effects is within the expected range. In fact, based on the evidence coming from all the countries we can say that the vaccine safety is similar to the seasonal influenza vaccine (which) has been used for more than 50 years,” Chan said.

“So to that extent, the vaccine is safe and but it is important that every country must also put in place what you call post-vaccination side effect surveillance as part of the agreement,” she added.

Duque said the Department of Health was still exerting its best efforts to procure on its own P100 million worth of vaccines.

“We have to understand, however, the reality that because the global manufacturing capacity is limited, supplies may be initially inadequate and not readily be augmented,” he said.

DOH records as of Oct. 10 showed 33 people have died out of 5,416 confirmed cases of Influenza A H1N1, representing a 0.6 percent case fatality ratio.

“We stress that more than 99 percent of the cases have recovered,” said Duque, who noted that no new cases have been reported in the last two months.