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FILE PHOTO: In this illustration taken on October 31, 2020, vials with a label that reads “COVID-19 / Coronavirus Vaccine / Injection Only” and a medical syringe are seen in front of the AstraZeneca logo displayed. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic
MANILA, Philippines – More than 100 million Filipinos are estimated to be vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) if each vaccine the government would buy is priced at P600, Senator Sonny Angara said Thursday.
The budget that was approved by Congress allocates P72.5 billion for vaccines, while Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 allocates another P10 billion for the inoculation campaign.
So if you add that to the P72.5 billion here in the 2021 budget, you’re talking about P82.5 billion, and if you’re talking about a vaccine that you can get around P600, you’re talking over 100 million. people who get vaccinated, ”Angara, chairman of the Senate finance committee, said in an interview with the ABS-CBN news channel.
He said that this budget “would seem sufficient”, but also cited certain variables.
“There are questions that you and I cannot decide or resolve because we do not have the information available. What are these pieces of information? How much have we been promised as supply? When will it arrive? That kind of things. Where will it be stored? ” He explained.
“These are things that are moving targets because there are so many factors at play. All the governments of the world are talking to the vaccine manufacturers, trying to get an adequate supply, ”Angara said.
The National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Gálvez Jr. previously said that the government hopes to vaccinate between 60 and 70 percent of Filipinos against the coronavirus, enough to activate herd immunity, within three to five years.
Angara said the proposed budget for the vaccines would be sufficient to meet this goal.
“If you look at the indicative figure of 60 percent, I think that was the disputed figure, 60 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated, so I think there are sufficient funds there,” he noted.
“Especially if we are talking about, I think Secretary Gálvez ngayon ay (Secretary Gálvez is negotiating with) AstraZeneca, and you are talking about P600 for two doses, which is enough for one person, spaced a month apart, so I think he is in negotiations to ensure the initial supply of that, ”added the senator.
AstraZeneca UK recently approved local ethics board review to conduct clinical trials in the Philippines. He is one of five COVID-19 vaccine developers who have requested to conduct clinical trials here in the country.
/ MUF
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