WASHINGTON – The United States yesterday announced that it is sending more than eight million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Bangladesh and the Philippines in the latest wave of aid to a world still struggling to tame the pandemic.
Five shipments totalling 5,575,050 doses will go to the Philippines by next week, a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
Another 2,508,480 doses will arrive early next week in Bangladesh.
The doses – all Pfizer-BioNTech – are being donated through the World Health Organisation’s Covax programme.
The “administration understands that putting an end to this pandemic requires eliminating it around the world”, said the official, noting that US donations represent “the largest-ever purchase and donation of vaccines by a single country”.
Hard-hit Bangladesh has already received millions of US vaccine doses, including another 2.5 million sent just last week.
According to AFP’s database, only about 10% of the Bangladeshi population has been fully vaccinated.
The impoverished country of about 170 million people that neighbours India has imposed some of the world’s longest lockdowns in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The Philippines has recorded more than 2.5 million infections, including over 38,000 deaths. Just over a quarter of the adult population has been fully vaccinated amid a delayed and slow vaccination roll-out.
Officials have warned that the economy could take more than a decade to recover from the pandemic’s impact, which has thrown millions out of work.
Nearly 70% of the economy, including 23.3 million workers, remain under “heightened quarantine” restrictions, said Economic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua on Thursday. – AFP, October 2, 2021
