‘Critics of Duterte’s decision to chip in may be consoled with the thought that the Philippines has already received 2.7 million doses of vaccines from COVAX, with more jabs coming.’
EARLY on. President Duterte has advocated — just like leaders of other countries — a full-global approach in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, realizing as others do that mankind will not be able to defeat this public health crisis if there are countries that are left behind.
Duterte has perorated on this Philippine policy statement in regional and international forums, placing him in the camp of the poor, Third World nations whose access to the all-important COVID-19 vaccine depends on the magnanimity of rich, vaccine-producing countries, aside from the COVAX Facility administered by the World Health Organization (WHO).
This week, Duterte again called for an inclusive global recovery from the pandemic, saying this cannot be achieved if there will be continued disparity in the distribution of the vaccines. In a recent global summit over the Internet, Duterte renewed his call for equitable distribution of vaccines, and surprised some sectors in Philippine society with his announcement that the country is donating an additional $1 million to the COVAX Facility, the world’s common pharmacy of vaccines to fight COVID-19.
The Philippine President was in the correct venue when he pointed out the serious, lopsided distribution of the vaccines, with rich countries cornering more than 80 percent of the world’s supply — it was at the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) summit.
The increase in the Philippines’ contribution to this global effort puts the total donation of Filipinos at $1.1 million, and many believe that under the pandemic situation obtaining in the country, this matter is not an ordinary foreign policy issue decided off the cuff by the President. The funds involved may not be much, but for a developing country like ours, and in the midst of this fight against the pandemic when even our own resources, livelihood and economy are depleting, the rationale for such a contribution is open to question.
As things stand now and with our very modest contribution, the Philippines is both a donor to and a recipient of vaccines from the COVAX Facility. We have fulfilled the best we could our moral responsibility to help other peoples and face this crisis with greater solidarity and urgency, as the Chief Executive earlier said.
Japan, which hosted the summit, and members of the global vaccine alliance, are raising an additional $2 billion from various governments, business and private donors to ramp up the COVAX operations, helping it achieve the objective of delivering 1.8 billion doses of vaccines to poor nations.
Critics of Duterte’s decision to chip in may be consoled with the thought that the Philippines has already received 2.7 million doses of vaccines from COVAX, with more jabs coming.
