Without vaccine inequity, there will be no need for the Covax facility, Palace spokesman Harry Roque said on Monday as he accused the global initiative of being built out of the “guilty conscience” of rich countries.
Covax is a global initiative coordinated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the World Health Organization. Its portfolio of Covid-19 vaccines includes those manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen and Novovax.
The Philippines is one of the many recipients of vaccines from Covax, having received about 20 million doses from the facility to date.
In a vaccination event in Angeles City, Pampanga, Roque said donations made to Covax were just “feel-good” efforts of rich countries that hoard the global vaccine supply.
“Ang Covax, voluntary, feel-good ng mga mayayamang bansa dahil mino-monopolize nila ang supply ng vaccine,” Roque said.
“Dahil nga kinakailangang iaddress ang guilty conscience, [sabi nila,] ‘mamigay tayo ng konti sa mga mahihirap na bansa,'” he added.
Roque made the statement as he asserted vaccine equity as one of his advocacies in his International Law Commission (ILC) bid.
President Rodrigo Duterte has been making the same call, claiming vaccines have always gone to the highest bidders, leaving poor nations without anti-Covid-19 shots.
Over the weekend, the Philippines received 2.7 million Pfizer doses.
The latest deliveries brought to 77,410,640 the total number of vaccine doses delivered to the country since February. John Ezekiel J. Hirro