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END OF THE PANDEMIC Photo shows a healthcare worker holding a vial of the vaccine produced by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford at Pentland Medical Practice in Currie, Scotland. —REUTERS
MANILA, Philippines – The COVAX facility has pledged to deliver up to 4.58 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from British Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca by May, the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. In Philippines.
“We already have a commitment from the COVAX facility to deliver up to 4.58 million AstraZeneca vaccines through May of this year. And in addition to that, we will also be receiving 117,000 Pfizer-BioNtech vaccines, in addition to the additional quantities of Pfizer-BioNtech vaccines that will be allocated will be known before the end of this month ”, said Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, WHO country representative at an online press conference.
Abeyasinghe previously said that the Philippines will receive 44 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines allocated by the COVAX facility during the year, reaching up to 9.2 million doses in the second quarter.
COVAX or COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access is a global initiative led by WHO that aims to provide equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
However, Abeyasinghe noted that the Philippines should be able to meet the requirements for efficient delivery of vaccines.
“To access these vaccines and the rest of the vaccines that will arrive in the Philippines before the end of the year, the Philippines must demonstrate that they can first deploy vaccines efficiently with minimal vaccine waste,” he said. .
“Secondly, [they should ensure] that vaccines are used according to the prioritization, starting with protecting, if I remember correctly, 1.8 million health workers who have been identified for the first phase of vaccination ”, he added.
Following health workers in the prioritization identified by the WHO are the elderly and those with comorbidities, according to Abeyasinghe.
Malacañang previously said that 487,200 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines will arrive in the Philippines on Thursday.
On Monday, vaccine czar Carlito Gálvez Jr. said that the first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech that was initially expected to arrive in the country in mid-February via COVAX could be delivered in the second quarter. of this year. .
/ MUF
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