FILE PHOTO: Walmart pharmacist holds a vial of the Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine inside a Walmart department store as Walmart and other major U.S. pharmacies take part in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, to increase vaccinations in the U.S. in West Haven, Connecticut, U.S., February 17, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Segar/
MANILA, Philippines — Billionaire Enrique Razon Jr. said COVID-19 vaccines from United States drug firm Moderna would start arriving by June this year, boosting efforts to control the pandemic that recently triggered new lockdowns in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
Razon heads the private sector group involved in the tripartite agreement to secure 20 million doses of Moderna vaccines.
During the annual shareholders’ meeting of International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) on Thursday, Razon called this the largest combined national government, local government and private sector order for vaccines.
“When deliveries arrive at the end of the second quarter [of 2021], we shall immediately roll out our vaccination program for employees, their direct dependents and extended household members,” Razon, chair and president of ICTSI, said.
Under the tripartite agreement, the Philippine government will receive 13 million doses of the Moderna vaccines while the private sector ordered 7 million doses for its workers, a previous report showed.
Amid a fresh spike in COVID-19 infections, the country’s capital district and neighboring provinces returned to strict quarantine in late March while nonessential travel around the country was suspended anew to halt the spread of the deadly virus.
Last March 12, Sen. Panfilo Lacson scored the government on the slow pace of its vaccination program.
“Unless we accelerate the pace of vaccination, it will take us a long time,” Lacson said during a television interview.