The Philippines’ Department of Finance has revealed that it has negotiated loan financing of $1.3B to acquire a total of 146 million doses of the vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III reported to President Rodrigo Duterte in a televised meeting that the government is ensuring that there are more than enough vaccine doses for 70 million Filipino adults, in case there’s any slippage and/or delay in deliveries of the vaccine.

“Itong total ng (a total of) 146 or 148 million doses will vaccinate 76 million adults or more than 100 percent of the adult population,” said Dominguez.

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The loan financing was negotiated with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank (WB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will cover 106 million doses valued at around USD1.2 billion, while the COVAX Facility will deliver another 40 million doses of the vaccine. This includes the Philippines’ contribution of USD84 million to the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) as per reports from the Philippine News Agency.

Dominguez said the government is pursuing a three-pronged strategy on vaccine procurement, comprising: the multilateral approach, which includes accessing financing from the ADB, WB and AIIB, and taking part in the COVAX Facility; partnering with the private sector; and working with the local government units (LGUs).

Under this strategy, the private sector and LGUs will pay for their respective vaccine purchases.

“These approaches are independent of each other but they are coordinated, para ho (so) we will have enough doses to vaccinate 100 percent of the adult population,” he said.

Dominguez said around 40 million of the Philippine population who are below 18 years of age cannot be vaccinated, leaving around 70 million adults covered by the Duterte administration’s Covid-19 vaccination program.

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Together with the private sector, the Philippines is expected to get a total of about 178 million Covid-19 vaccine doses, good for 92 million individuals to ensure that 100 percent of the country’s adult population gets inoculated, he said.

“However, we have negotiated for 92 million (doses) kasi ho ang (because the) experience, nababasa natin sa dyaryo, ay may mga (we read in the newspaper there is) slippage, may mga (there are) delays sa delivery. There are delays in Europe, there are delays in the US (United States). So to be safe, we are negotiating more than what we need for 70 million (adult Filipinos),” Dominguez said.