Japanese Ambassador to the Philippine Koshikawa Kazuhiko led the arrival ceremony for the first batch of the 1.96 million additional Covid-19 vaccine shots from the government of Japan.
Together with Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., vaccine czar and National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer, Ambassador Koshikawa welcomed the delivery of 896,000 doses of Japan-manufactured AstraZeneca vaccine in Manila. The second batch to complete these 1.96 million doses pledged by Japan is scheduled to arrive on October 30, 2021.
In his remarks during the ceremony, Ambassador Koshikawa expressed hope that, with the vaccine provisions from Japan, the Philippines would be able to steadily recover from the impact of the pandemic and have a better Christmas season this year. He further reaffirmed Japan’s readiness to complement the Philippines’s pandemic response measures and roll out initiatives that serve as added boost toward reaching its goal of herd immunity.
The two vaccine provisions from Japan, now totaling to over three million doses, form part of its bilateral cooperation with the Philippines, in addition to its active contribution to the Covax Facility. Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu announced Japan’s intention to supply these life-saving vaccines for the second time during his October 15 press briefing. In July of this year, the Government of Japan also fulfilled its first provision of the same Covid-19 vaccine to the Philippines consisting of 1.12 million doses, which were then distributed by the Department of Health to different parts of the country.