PH can buy COVID-19 vaccine for 20 million Filipinos — Dominguez

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines can finance the vaccination of 20 million people against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) once it becomes available later this year, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

In a taped meeting aired Friday, Dominguez said the government can allocate $400 million or roughly P20 billion to buy the vaccine with the help of the Philippine International Trading Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

“Ang estimate ng Department of Health, we will need to vaccinate for free a minimum of 20 million people. I don’t know if it’s one vaccine or two shots. So we need 40 million vaccines, doses,” Dominguez said.

“Forty million doses times $10 per dose is $400 million dollars or roughly P20 billion…We can execute it as soon as the Department of Health chooses which vaccines they want. Certainly by late this year, if it’s available, we can already buy,” he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte said the government will prioritize low-income families who receive cash assistance from the government once the vaccine against COVID-19 becomes available.

The Philippines has so far recorded 89,374 COVID-19 infections with 1,983 deaths and 65,064 recoveries.

/MUF