Solon urges churches, LGUs to pitch in for COVID-19 vaccine cost

A lawmaker on Saturday asked churches, religious groups and local government units to pitch in to cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccines "to get every Filipino vaccinated."

BHW party-list Representative Angelica Natasha Co urged them to follow the action of business tycoons who said they will sponsor the cost of some doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

The private sector, led by tycoon Enrique Razon Jr.'s International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), will buy as much as two million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, which will be divided equally between government workers and frontliners, and workers in the logistics sector, ICTSI executive vice president Christian Razon Gonzalez said during a Palace briefing on Tuesday.

“We ask for the kind and benevolent nature of the Church for their contribution," Co said.

“National government funds would not be enough," she said.

“This magnitude of truly whole-of-society fundraising effort is what we need to get every Filipino vaccinated at zero out-of-pocket expense for those who will receive the vaccines," Co said.

“It is impossible for the national government alone to carry the cost burden. We need matching funds from the four other sources," she said.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier said that the Philippines would need P73 billion to purchase a COVID-19 vaccine for 70% of the Philippine population which is at 110 million.

2.6M shots

The Philippines will get 2.6 million shots of a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca under the country's first supply deal for a coronavirus vaccine, senior officials said Friday.

This supply, to be paid for by the private sector, will inoculate over 1 million Filipinos as the British drugmaker's vaccine requires two doses, said Jose Concepcion, a government business adviser representing the private sector.

Meanwhile, Dr. Jaime Montoya of the Department of Science and Technology's Philippine Council for Health Research and Development said the private sector’s purchase of more than two million doses of COVID-19 vaccine developed by British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca and Oxford University will be followed by purchase by the Philippine government. —KG, GMA News