DOH: Over 21M COVID-19 vaccine doses procured through ADB loan

The facade of the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank in the Philippines. AFP PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — More than 21 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been procured by the government through a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Department of Health (DOH) said Tuesday.

In a statement, the health agency quoted Sakiko Tanaka, ADB Principal Social Sector Specialist, who said: “Within the implementation of the ADB Health System Enhancement to Address and Limit COVID-19 (Heal) project, approximately 21.58 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been financed through ADB and delivered to the Philippines, and of this, 6.3 million doses have been given to priority populations as of August 2021.”

Tanaka also said other achievements of the project include the procurement and delivery of 70 patient transport vehicles for contact tracing, 90 mechanical ventilators, and 85 portable x-ray machines to aid patient recovery in target local government units and DOH-owned hospitals.

According to DOH, the Heal project aims to assist the Philippines in scaling up its COVID-19 response by providing medical equipment and supplies to health facilities and establishing subnational reference laboratories and isolation wards to strengthen testing capacity, surveillance, and infection prevention and control.

The project also aims to provide financing for vaccine procurement and logistics, it added.

“I would like to thank the  ADB and the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank for guiding us in this journey of a very big loan,” said Health Undersecretary Mario Villaverde.

In the same statement, the DOH said the ADB praised them after posting over 70 percent obligation rate for its $825-million loan for COVID-19 vaccination.

KGA