By Alec Go
The Japanese government will donate AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines, its ambassador to the Philippines announced Tuesday (June 15).
Amb. Kazuhiko Koshikawa said in a tweet that the donation as part of the global COVID-19 pandemic response will immediately be delivered.
“Glad to be the bearer of good news today! Japan will donate AstraZeneca vaccines to the Philippines, and we’ll make sure to deliver them at the soonest possible time so no one gets left behind during this pandemic,” he said.
Glad to be the bearer of good news today! Japan will donate AstraZeneca vaccines to the Philippines, and we’ll make sure to deliver them at the soonest possible time so no one gets left behind during this pandemic.
— Ambassador of Japan in the Philippines (@AmbJPNinPH) June 15, 2021
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez confirmed the announcement during a congressional hearing on vaccine rollout today.
“Japan Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi just announced this morning the donation of Japan-made AstraZeneca vaccines to some countries, including the Philippines. We have not yet been officially informed of the number of doses that are going to be donated by Japan,” he said.
The Philippines is expecting 10,804,820 COVID-19 vaccine doses this month from Sinovac, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and COVAX. Aside from COVAX donations, the country is also awaiting donations from the United States.
As of June 14, more than 6.94 million doses have been administered from the 10.37 million deployed doses nationwide. – rir
