Philippines secures $900 million loans for vaccine procurement

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has secured $900 million (P43.6 billion) in fresh loans from multilateral lenders for the procurement of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, a move critical to the country’s thrust toward economic recovery.

In separate announcements yesterday, the World Bank and Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) said they approved loan facilities for the Philippines to buy COVID-19 vaccines and help in boosting response amid the pandemic.

The World Bank is providing $500 million (P24.2 billion) while ADB is allocating $400 million (P19.4 billion). Another $300 million (P14.5 billion) from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is also in the works and is pending approval.

Both the World Bank and ADB financing will be used to purchase and distribute COVID-19 vaccines for the majority of the Filipino population.

This month, the Philippines started inoculating its health care workers, but the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines all came from donations from China and the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX).

The loan from the Washington-based World Bank will cover other priority groups such as senior citizens, indigent communities, followed by priority groups of teachers, government workers, indigenous peoples, and then the remaining population.

“Procuring and administering vaccines provides the country an added layer of defense against COVID-19 on top of public health measures or interventions like social distancing, wearing of masks and washing hands,” World Bank country director Ndiame Diop said.

Meanwhile, the $400-million ADB loan makes the Philippines the first recipient of its Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (APVAX) that aims to procure and ensure delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to the country.

The ADB loan will be supported by the AIIB financing to procure up to 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for as many as 50 million Filipinos.

In a virtual briefing yesterday, ADB senior social sector specialist Sakiko Tanaka said the loan will be effective this month and has a 10-year loan term including a three-year grace period.

“The fund will be directly paid from ADB to the vaccine supplier. It is a direct payment and will not go to the government’s account,” Tanaka said.

ADB principal health specialist Eduardo Banzon noted that the Philippines has enough financing available to get its needed vaccines for herd immunity.

“The way APVAX works is we want to be equitably available for our other member countries before any follow-up loans will be discussed. There’s no immediate need [for another one] given all the financing that the Philippines has,” Banzon said.

Apart from the expected $1.2 billion from ADB, AIIB and the World Bank, the government has budgeted some $1.4 billion for vaccine procurement. The private sector has also pledged to procure millions of doses.

ADB country director Kelly Bird emphasized that governments globally are ensuring they have available financing to lock in the needed vaccine supply for their citizens.

“It’s not out of line compared with other countries. The Philippines is not overshooting, it is being prudent and cautious. You got to have in place your financing plan and ensure financing upfront,” Bird said.

“The vaccination plan is critical as it will quicken acceleration for the reopening of the economy. If it takes more time to recover, it will have scarring effects,” he said.

APVAX is ADB’s $9-billion vaccine initiative offering rapid and equitable support to its developing members as they procure and deliver COVID-19 vaccines.

Vaccines eligible for financing must meet at least one of three APVAX criteria including procurement through COVAX, prequalified by the World Health Organization, or the manufacture is authorized by a stringent regulatory authority in the country of production.

The World Bank loan, on the other hand, will also support the Philippines to continue to implement public health measures until a majority of the population has been vaccinated or is deemed safe based on global evidence.

Globally, the World Bank has allocated $12 billion to help low and middle-income countries like the Philippines to purchase and distribute COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments, and strengthen vaccination systems.

As of March 11, the Philippines has logged nearly 604,000 cases and 12,545 deaths. Active cases have increased to almost 45,000.