Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III joins the meeting with the the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) core members presided by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the Malago Clubhouse in Malacañang on July 30, 2020. ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III on Monday said the Philippine government had allocated P73.2 billion for the Covid-19 vaccination of 60 million Filipinos.
In a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte and Cabinet officials, Dominguez said the vaccination of each Filipino would cost $25 (~P1,200).
Of the P73.2-billion total, the government would source P40 billion from low-cost long-term loans from multilateral agencies such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
Around P20 billion would be annexed from the Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines and other government-controlled corporations.
The government can also negotiate with bilateral sources on vaccine purchase such as the United States and the United Kingdom at around P13.2 billion, according to Dominguez.
The country would also engage in more bilateral talks to source about P13.2 billion worth of vaccines.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said vaccinating 60 million people would be enough to achieve “herd immunity.”
The World Health Organization defines herd immunity as a concept used in vaccination in which a population can be immune to disease when a certain threshold of population vaccination is reached.
“Ang herd immunity po, Mr. President, is anywhere from 60 to 70 percent according to the WHO. 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,” Duque said.
“We will have herd immunity. That’s our goal, mga 60 to 70 percent [ng population] po,” he added.
The country’s vaccination roadmap would prioritize poor Filipinos who had received cash grants from the government’s social amelioration program, healthcare workers and state forces. John Ezekiel J. Hirro