PH buys 89 million COVID-19 vaccine doses worth around $1 billion

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque says the $400-million vaccine purchases was funded through the national budget and loans from multilateral financial institutions.

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has so far purchased some 89 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines worth around $1 billion, of which $400 million were already paid for, Malacañang said Monday.

Citing data from the Department of Finance (DOF), presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the $400 million was funded through the national budget and loans from multilateral financial institutions. He did not detail the breakdown of the figures.

“Ang gobyerno po natin ay may iba’t ibang kontrata sa iba’t ibang mga vaccine manufacturers. Ang total na na-procure po natin so far ay 89 milllion doses at ang halaga nito ay mahigit kumulang $1 billion,” Roque said in an online Palace briefing.

(The government has various contracts from different vaccine manufacturers. We have so far procured 89 million doses which cost around $1 billion.)

“So far, the government has paid $400 million from GAA [General Appropriations Act] doon sa ating budget at saka sa mga multilateral financial institutions,” he added.

(So far, the government has paid $400 million from the GAA or our budget and multilateral financial institutions.)

According to the National Task Force against COVID-19 (NTF), the country has so far received some 20.6 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Of the vaccines that have arrived, the NTF said more than 10.4 million doses were government-procured, seven million doses were sourced from the COVAX facility, more than two million doses came from bilateral donations, while the rest were procured by various local government units and the private sector.

More than thirteen million doses were already administered out of the delivered vaccines, with 3.5 million persons already fully vaccinated against COVID-19 here in the Philippines.

abc