Philippines to donate 3M COVID-19 vaccines to neighboring countries — NTF adviser

The National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 on Friday said the Philippines is preparing to donate around 3 million COVID-19 vaccines to other countries.

NTF special adviser Ted Herbosa said he was initially informed that Sputnik V vaccines will be donated to countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“I think Laos Cambodia, Myanmar ang mga target countries to receive it kasi kulang sila ng vaccine. Myanmar, I think, specifically for Sputnik,” he said at the Laging Handa briefing.

“And then may na mention din na African countries that want them. So ‘yun ang current situation. I’m sure kung meron pang pwedeng i-donate, ido-donate natin,” he added.

(And African countries were also mentioned. So that’s the current situation. I’m sure if there are vaccines available for donation, we will donate them.)

In April, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the government is already coordinating with Myanmar and Papua New Guinea to finalize arrangements for the donation.

Vaccine wastage

Meanwhile, Herbosa said around 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine donated by the COVAX facility expired in various regions.

“Pero ito ay pinangako ng COVAX na papalitan nila. So hinihintay lang natin ‘yung replacement noon because there were donations naman,” he said.

(But COVAX vowed to replace these. So we’re just waiting for the replacement because there are only donations.)

“Naka distribute ‘yan sa ibat ibang region na, no. So ang shelflife naman nila, after dumating sila from donation by COVAX, dini-distribute yan from our national warehouse to the different regions,” he later added.

(That’s distributed in different regions. So they are distributed to different regions from our national warehouse.) — RSJ, GMA News