So many problems in our vaccine program

The need for anti- COVID-19 vaccines is so great that the national government can not hope to meet it all by itself. President Duterte has thus approved a tripartite agreement among the national government, local government units, and private pharmaceutical firms for the acquisition of the millions of vaccine doses needed by our people.

The national government is now negotiating with vawccine companies Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Novavax, Johnson and Johnson, Sinovac, and Gamaleya, according to Carlito Galvez Jr. of the National Task Force against COVID-19.

The government plans to purchase 148 million doses from these manufacturers. That would be good for some 70 million, at two doses each person. The Philippines also expects to receive doses for 23 million Filipinos from COVAX, a global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to vaccines for all countries, regardless of income level.

Several Philippine LGUs, among them Manila, Quezon City, Baguio City, Ormoc City, and Candon City, have announced that they have already appropriated funds in the hundreds of millions of pesos and are now negotiating on their own with various vaccine manufacturers.