The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced on Monday that it had approved a $250 million loan to assist the Philippine government in purchasing 40 million additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
According to Sakiko Tanaka, a Social Sector Specialist for the Manila-based bank, ADB is supporting the government’s push to provide vaccines to protect its citizens and save lives, particularly in light of the emergence of new COVID-19 variants.
She stated that vaccination will allow the health system to better manage the virus’s effects and will aid in the economic recovery.
She went on to say that it is critical to the country’s full recovery from the pandemic.
According to the Department of Health, 37.4 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 since the government launched the inoculation campaign in March.
According to the department, this accounts for more than 34% of the total population of the country.
The government intends to vaccinate 54 million people by the end of 2021, and 77 million by March of next year.
Earlier in February, the ADB provided the Philippines with $25 million in financial assistance to assist it in making advance payments for COVID-19 shots, micro syringes, and other vaccine-related items.
In March, the bank also approved a $400 million loan for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines.
Since last month, the Philippines’ daily tally of COVID-19 cases has been declining, prompting the government to relax restrictions before Omicron was designated a variant of concern.
According to the Department of Health, the country’s total accumulated COVID-19 caseload since 2020 was more than 2.83 million, with 50,280 deaths as of Sunday.