MANILA – The United States Embassy in Manila announced the successful arrival of 487,200 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to the Philippines on Thursday, March 4. These vaccines were made available through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, a global initiative to support equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. 

COVAX was launched in April by the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to ensure that the 92 middle- and lower-income countries that cannot fully afford to pay for COVID-19 vaccines themselves get equal access to COVID-19 vaccines as higher-income self-financing countries and at the same time.

The U.S. Embassy said the United States already has donated Php97.2 billion ($2 billion) to COVAX, by far the largest contribution, to ensure the Philippines and other countries receive COVID-19 vaccines.

In February, the U.S. government announced a total planned contribution of Php194.4 billion ($4 billion) to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment. 

The United States already has provided an initial Php97.2 billion ($2 billion), and the Philippines is among the first countries in the region to have received COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility. 

“The United States is proud to be the largest contributor to COVAX, and we welcome the successful arrival of the first tranche of AstraZeneca vaccines in the Philippines.  As we fight the pandemic together, the United States will continue to support the Philippines’ vaccination and COVID-19 mitigation efforts,” said U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires John Law.

The U.S. contributions to COVAX, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will support the purchase and delivery of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for the world’s most vulnerable and at-risk populations in 92 low- and middle-income countries. 

This support is critical to controlling the pandemic, slowing the emergence of new variants, and helping to restart the global economy. 

The United States has worked closely with Philippine stakeholders throughout the duration of the pandemic to protect public health and strengthen the response to COVID-19, the U.S. Embassy added.

To date, total U.S. government COVID-19 assistance to the Philippines has amounted to more than Php1.1 billion ($23.4 million), it also said.

Prior to this, the Philippines had received 600,000 doses of CoronaVac donated by China, which arrived in the country on Sunday, Feb. 28.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday, March 4, announced that China would donate an additional 400,000 doses of Sinovac-made CoronaVac vaccines to the Philippines. ~