DOF Identifies Sources of Fund for COVID-19 Vaccine – Manila Bulletin

The Department of Finance (DOF) has identified three sources of funds for the acquisition of coronavirus vaccines that will be delivered to priority sectors.

In a report to President Duterte, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Domínguez III said the government would obtain the P73.2 billion COVID-19 vaccine fund from development banks, state finance companies and partner countries.

According to Domínguez, the government can obtain around P40 billion through “low-cost, long-term loans” from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank.

Domínguez also said that the government can get another P20 billion from the Land Bank of the Philippines, the Development Bank of the Philippines, and government-owned and controlled corporations.

The remaining 13.2 billion pesos will be obtained from bilateral negotiations with countries where the vaccines would originate, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, said the finance chief.

Domínguez added that the P73.2 billion vaccine fund will allow the government to inoculate 60 million Filipinos against coronavirus based on an average vaccine cost of P1,200 per person.

“Some [vaccine prices] they are lower, some are higher, so we don’t know exactly what the cost is. But let’s say $ 25 or P1,200, P73,2 billion is good for 60 million people to get vaccinated, ”he said.

The Secretary of Health, Francisco Duque III, said that the vaccination of 60 million Filipinos could allow the country to achieve “herd immunity,” according to the pronouncements of the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Herd immunity” is a vaccination term in which a population protects itself from a particular virus after reaching a threshold or a certain number of vaccinated people.

Duque said that according to the WHO, one can acquire herd immunity if between 60 and 70 percent of the population is vaccinated, which means that with 60 million inoculated Filipinos the country would “practically stop the spread” of the virus.

President Duterte said that the country’s poorest population and members of the Philippine Armed Forces (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) will be among those who will have priority in the possible government’s immunization campaign against COVID-19. .