Gov’t has P45 billion in 2022 budget to buy more COVID-19 vaccines

A health worker prepares Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines during a vaccination for residents in Mandaluyong on July 15, 2021. (File photo by TED ALJIBE / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — The government already has P45 billion in the budget for 2022 set aside for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominquez III said Saturday  in the weekly taped briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte.

“For next year, we just had a meeting with [Budget] Secretary [Wendel] Avisado and [Health Secretary [Francisco] Duque yesterday. And we noted that we have in the budget for next year — already P45 billion for additional vaccinations,” Dominguez said.

“Just to assure you and the health community, we have the money for that. The question is, how do we use that money? Are we going to need booster shots? Are we going to need another set of vaccinations? We are ready to handle this problem financially,” he added.

Dominguez said 171 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines were expected to be delivered by year-end, which he said would be “more than enough to vaccinate the entire adult population.”

So far, the Philippines has received 30.9 million doses which include government-procured shots and donations coming from the COVAX facility and donor countries.

Earlier in the week, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the national vaccine manager, said the government was expecting the delivery of 136.1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in six months.

The government aims to attain population protection by the end of the year. This can be achieved by vaccinating at least 40 percent to 50 percent of the population.

The country has so far fully vaccinated 5.5 million individuals against COVID-19.

[atm]