Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez said the country would be receiving surplus Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses from the United States.
“It’s free, it’s part of the help they are giving to their allies,” Romualdez said in a radio interview.
The ambassador said the number of doses given to the Philippines will be determined in the coming days.
“In the next couple of days, malalaman natin kung ilan ang ipapadala sa atin [we’ll know how many will be sent to us], but this is good news to us,” he said. Romualdez added the White House informed him that the Philippines will be among the first batch of recipients of US surplus vaccines.
He said the COVID-19 vaccines might arrive as early as June.
Romualdez said the US has around 80 million surplus COVID-19 vaccines.
The Philippines also expects vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnsons & Johnsons in either July or August, the ambassador said.
PH to receive surplus Moderna, AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from US – envoy
Romualdez earlier said that at least 300,000 doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are expected to arrive in the country by June 21.
“June 21 is the target date of delivery for the first batch of Moderna vaccines. It will be 300,000 doses as a start,” Romualdez said in a CNN Philippines interview.
“We will be get more by July, August, and September.”
The Philippines bought at least 20 million doses of vaccine from America’s Moderna. The national government paid for the 13 million while the private sector paid for the seven million.
Early this month, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The vaccine could be given to persons aged 18 and above.
In November 2020, Moderna announced its vaccine was 94.5% effective in a preliminary analysis of a large late-stage clinical trial.
According to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, the national government targets to inoculate 58 million or 70% of 83 million people in COVID-19 hotspots to achieve herd immunity.
Visit our Facebook page for more news updates.