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40 million Pfizer doses key to herd immunity. Inquirer Newsletter June 21, 2021

NOT A LUCKY WIN Gilas Pilipinas’ Ange Kouame (right) and Mike Nieto (second from right) jockey for position against South Korea's Lee Hyun-jung en route to a sweep of their rivals on Sunday’s Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers match at Angeles University Foundation in Pampanga. PHOTO COURTESY OF FIBA

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40 million Pfizer doses key to herd immunity

The government has sealed what is so far its biggest COVID-19 vaccine purchase deal, with the signing of an agreement for the delivery of 40 million doses of the vaccine developed by American multinational Pfizer Inc. and German biotechnology company BioNTech SE.

In a statement on Sunday, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said he and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III signed a supply agreement with representatives of Pfizer on Saturday.

Galvez called this the “biggest and most decisive deal we ha[ve] for 2021.”

“The vaccines from Pfizer will significantly boost our national immunization program and will enable us to realize our goal of achieving herd immunity by year-end,” said the chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19.

To achieve herd immunity, the government aims to vaccinate up to 70 percent of the country’s estimated 110 million population.

ADB loan

Galvez said the delivery of the Pfizer doses will begin in October.

Officials of the task force did not disclose the purchase cost when asked, but said Pfizer would be paid directly by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), from which the Philippines borrowed $400 million for the purchase of vaccines.

Galvez said the Philippines has purchased 113 million vaccine doses this year, including the 26 million CoronaVac, 10 million Sputnik V, 20 million Moderna and 17 million AstraZeneca doses.

The COVAX global vaccine pool has also committed to ship in 44 million doses, which brings the total number of expected doses to 157 million—past the number of doses needed to achieve herd immunity.

The country has so far received 9 million CoronaVac, 2.6 million AstraZeneca, 2.5 million Pfizer and 180,000 Sputnik V vaccine doses.

Editorial

OFWs save the day

The government, given its supposed lack of funds to help affected sectors cope with the economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, has the more than 10 million Filipinos living or working abroad to thank for continuing to send money to help their relatives in the country survive the crisis, thus also helping keep the Philippines afloat.

Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net