The Philippines has received at least P1.9 billion worth of donations from the US government to boost the country’s Covid-19 response.
National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said a part of the donation is intended to boost the country’s cold-storage facilities for Covid-19 vaccines.
“The US saw we lack freezers in geographically isolated areas,” Galvez said during the public address of President Duterte last Monday.
With the said donation, Galvez said the government was able to secure 42 freezers, which they could deploy in municipalities.
NTF earlier said the lack of the necessary cold-storage facilities in some parts of the country hamper the inoculation drive in those areas since some vaccine brands need to be stored in below freezing temperatures.
In a Viber message, Galvez said the donation from US would also be used to improve the government’s capacity for conducting testing, logistics, specialized training and demand communication support.
The government is currently ramping up its vaccination drive to reach its target of administering 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses by the end of the year.
As of October 3, 2021, Galvez said they have already administered 48 million Covid-19 doses to over 24.58 million Filipinos nationwide, of which, 22 million are now fully vaccinated.
Galvez said they are aiming to vaccinate 80 percent to 90 percent of the country’s over 100 million population before the 2022 elections in May, which he said could become a “superspreader event” for Covid-19 infections.
“So our plan, Mr. President, in our vaccination is to complete the vaccination before February [2022], which is the election period so that just in case there will be violations [of minimum health standards] at least most of the people are already vaccinated,” Galvez said.