PH envoy in Washington receives first dose of Moderna vaccine

MANILA – Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez has received his first dose of the Moderna vaccine as part of Washington DC’s “phase-based vaccination program”.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Romualdez said the creation and deployment of “safe and effective” vaccines take the world a step closer to defeating the pandemic and moving forward with economic recovery.

To bring these vaccines to the Philippine public, he said close collaboration within the international community, between governments, and private entities was a necessity.

“In this regard, we greatly appreciate the support of the US government, the private sector, and the World Bank for the Philippines’ vaccination program,” he said.

Romualdez, one of the Philippine government officials working to procure up to 20 million doses of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine from American pharmaceutical company Moderna, received the inoculation a few days before the inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

During the hearing of the House of Representatives Committee on Health last week, the chief implementer of the National Policy Against Covid-19, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., with guidance from Romualdez, said Moderna vaccines would soon be secured and divided equally between the government and the private sector.