PH to procure 100M COVID shots next year
The Philippines is planning to buy up to 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses next year, according to National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr.
In a press briefing, Galvez said that the authorities are in talks with four drug manufacturers for the targeted procurement.
The vaccine czar added that the government would sign a contract with Johnson & Johnson this week to procure six million shots of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine for delivery in January 2022.
So far, at least 21.7 million individuals or about 28% of the target population are now fully inoculated. Galvez added that at least 50% of Filipinos would be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by December.
In addition, the government will allocate 60 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for children aged 12 to 17 as they start the inoculation of adolescents with comorbidities on October 15.
