The Philippines is ready to spend up to 73 billion pesos ($1.52 billion) on the procurement of vaccines against COVID-19, the country's budget chief Wendel Avisado said on Saturday, as cited by domestic broadcasters
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th December, 2020) The Philippines is ready to spend up to 73 billion pesos ($1.52 billion) on the procurement of vaccines against COVID-19, the country's budget chief Wendel Avisado said on Saturday, as cited by domestic broadcasters.
During a press briefing, Avisado, who serves as secretary of the Department of Budget and Management, said that 10 billion pesos were already available for vaccine procurement as part of the government's so-called Bayanihan 2 economic response measures, the ABS-CBN broadcaster reports.
The funds will be used to procure enough vaccines to immunize roughly 60 million citizens, Avisado was cited by the broadcaster as saying, adding that the government is hoping to achieve "herd immunity."
Back in September, public health officials in the Philippines held consultations with representatives from both Russia and the United States over the potential purchase of safe and effective vaccines against the coronavirus disease.
Since the start of the pandemic, more than 436,000 cases of the coronavirus disease have been registered in the Philippines by public health officials, including the 934 new positive tests confirmed on Friday. The country's death toll, as of the same day, is 8,509.
