The United States, in partnership with the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility, delivered on Monday, Mar 7, 2022, its largest single-day shipment yet of 3,999,060 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to the Philippines as part of its continuing worldwide effort to combat COVID-19 and its commitment to partner with the Philippine government to keep Filipinos healthy and safe.
The vaccines are part of the 1.2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses that the U.S. is making available for distribution through COVAX, a global initiative to support equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. With this donation, the U.S. has accomplished President Joe Biden’s goal of shipping 200 million doses to partner countries, five days ahead of the 100-day target.
To date, the American people have already provided more than 33.3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the Philippines.
“We are immensely proud that our friends, partners, and allies in the Philippines are receiving this historic shipment. This significant donation underscores the United States’ commitment to continue working with our Philippine partners to combat COVID-19 even as we face serious challenges around the world,” said U.S. Embassy in the Philippines Chargé d’Affaires (CDA) ad interim Heather Variava.
Also coinciding with this milestone is the anniversary of the first COVAX delivery of life-saving COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines. The U.S. is the largest donor to COVAX, having donated $4 billion to help protect the most vulnerable and at-risk populations in 92 low- and middle-income countries. So far, the Philippines has received from COVAX a total of nearly 74 million vaccines doses, enough to vaccinate one in five Filipinos.
On behalf of CDA Variava, U.S. Agency for International Development Philippines Health Office Director Michelle Lang-Alli joined Philippine government officials and other stakeholders at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to welcome this latest vaccine shipment.
The United States is working closely with Philippine partners to protect public health and support the local response to COVID-19. In addition to vaccine donations, the U.S. government has also provided more than Php1.9 billion ($39 million) in COVID-19 assistance to the Philippines to support testing, crucial care, communication campaigns, protection and training of health workers, vaccine deployment, and essential equipment and supplies.
To learn more about the U.S. government and American companies’ COVID-19 assistance to the Philippines, visit https://ph.usembassy.gov/fact-sheet-us-covid-19-assistance-to-the-philippines/.
