The Philippines had secured a total of 20 million doses of Moderna vaccines, 13 million doses of which were procured by the national government, while seven million doses were purchased by different companies that were pooled by the International Container Terminal Services, Inc (ICTSI).
The initial batch of vaccines delivered by Moderna last June consisting of 249,600 doses was meant to be part of the 13 million doses allocated for the national government since it was the first to sign a supply agreement with the company.
The private sector then subsequently signed a separate supply agreement with Moderna. The doses it secured from the US-based company were tentatively scheduled to arrive in the country in the third quarter of 2021.
However, due to the Philippines’ strong bilateral ties with the United States, we were able to request Moderna to allocate a portion of their first delivery to the private sector. It was then agreed that 49,600 doses from the first shipment will be given to them.
In addition to this supply, the National Task Force Against COVID-19 decided to augment the private sector’s allocation with another 50,000 doses, which leaves the national government with 150,000 doses. Hence, the private sector received a total of 99,600 doses of Moderna vaccines last June.
This is why we find it disconcerting that the NTF and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases are being accused of holding the vaccine supply procured by the private sector. This issue, which have been circulating online, is clearly peddled by malicious individuals who wish to undermine the country’s vaccine rollout.
This accusation is clearly unfounded, unfair and farthest from the truth. It was the national government which made arrangements with Moderna so that the private sector could be given a bigger vaccine allocation and the doses could be delivered to them in June.
We would like to emphasize that even before the vaccine roll out, the national government and the private sector have been working hand-in-hand to ensure that we will be able to get these life-saving vaccines into the arms of as many Filipinos as possible.
We understand the importance and urgency of inoculating our essential workers and economic frontliners. This is why we opened the vaccination program for this sector as early as June 7.
Likewise, the national government expanded and simplified the definition of the A4 priority sector to allow all workers from the public and private sector, as well as those from the informal sector and self-employed, to be included in the priority groups of our vaccine program.
Augmenting the private sector’s vaccine supply would enable us to scale up our national vaccination throughput, as many of our private sector partners have already set up their respective mega vaccination hubs ready for activation.
The establishment of these facilities will not only allow the companies which procured the vaccines to inoculate their staff and employees, but more importantly, help the national government administer the vaccines in a faster and more efficient manner.
To date, more than one million doses have been administered to A4 priority group implemented by both local government units and private sector partners. The vaccines used in the rollout for the economic frontliners were supplies from the national government.
This is the beauty of collaboration and cooperation – the private sector provided the vaccination facilities for their employees while the national government supplied them with the needed vaccines. This initiative will continue until the arrival of supplies procured by the private sector become stable.
We would also like to emphasize that similar to the scheduled shipment of vaccines procured by the national government, the doses purchased by the private sector and local government units are being delivered in tranches.
Under the supply agreement we signed with Moderna and with other vaccine manufacturers, the orders will be delivered in batches. However, there is no definite quantity specified per batch as this can be affected by other factors such as production and logistics.
A lot of companies pooled their resources to purchase the seven million doses from Moderna. We agree that the initial supply of 99,600 doses remains insufficient. But this is the reality of the situation we must learn to adapt to.
The allocation of vaccines per company has been discussed internally between ICTSI and the establishments’ representatives. What the government has asked from these companies is to ensure that with the limited supply, staff who belong to A1, A2, and A3 groups should be given priority.
We at the NTF are committed to fast track the deployment and administration of the vaccines procured by the national government, the local government units, and the private sector to ensure that we will be able to realize our goal of achieving population protection within this year and have a better Christmas.
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