FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has identified three sources for its planned P73.2 billion Covid-19 vaccine fund that will enable the government to inoculate 60 million Filipinos against the lethal coronavirus.

In his report to President Rodrigo Duterte during a televised meeting in Davao City Monday night, Dominguez said the estimates were based on an average vaccine cost of P1,200 per person.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said during the meeting that inoculating 60 million Filipinos may enable the country to reach “herd immunity,” based on pronouncements from the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Herd immunity” is a vaccination term in which a population becomes protected from a particular virus after reaching a threshold or certain number of vaccinated people.

Dominguez informed the President that the funding sources include multilateral institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB), from which the government can obtain around P40 billion through “low-cost, long-term loans.”

Local sources

The government is also tapping P20 billion from domestic government financial institutions such as the Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, and government-owned and -controlled corporations, Dominguez said.

Dominguez said the remaining P13.2 billion will be sourced from bilateral negotiations with countries from where the vaccines would originate, such as the United States and the United Kingdom. (PR)