Gov’t allots P73.2 billion for vaccination of 60M Pinoys vs. COVID-19

The Philippine government has set aside P73.2 billion for the procurement of a COVID-19 vaccine for 60 million Filipinos, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Monday.

Dominguez said the finance department estimated the cost of a vaccine to be around $25 or P1,200 per person.

Some P40 billion will be sourced from multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, P20 billion from domestic sources of financing like LandBank, and around P13.2 billion from bilateral agreements with countries that are developing vaccines.

“Ang total niyan is about P73.2 billion financing. That’s pretty much almost fixed… [that] is good for 60 million people to be vaccinated,” he told President Rodrigo Duterte in a briefing.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III confirmed that the vaccination of 60 million Filipinos will lead to herd immunity.

“Ang herd immunity po is anywhere from 60 to 70 percent, according to the World Health Organization. So if we’re able to reach that, we’re going to pretty much arrest the spread of this and mawawala yung COVID-19 sa atin pong lipunan,” he said.

Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., meanwhile, said the Philippines is in talks to secure 60 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by next year from manufacturers Sinovac, AstroZeneca, and Pfizer. 

The country has logged 420,614 infections as of Monday afternoon. —LDF,GMA News