Delivery of vaccines to the Philippines will be boosted by the commitment of other nations to donate their excess coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) doses.

Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer, said countries like the United States will give their excess vaccines to the COVAX Facility to augment the pandemic responses of other nations.

“Isa sa pinakamagandang balita na nag-loosen up na po ‘yung mga rich countries (One of the good news is that rich countries have loosened up). Particularly, the US had an initial donation of 80 million doses to be given by June, kasama po ‘yung (this includes the) Southeast Asia,” Galvez reported during the regular Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte in Malacañang on Monday night.

Galvez said apart from the donation to the Covax Facility, 500 million more doses will be distributed by the US worldwide.

With the development, he said the Philippines is expecting to receive 44 million doses from the facility this year.

“Parang assured na po na at least may 20 percent po tayong mare-receive (It seems that we are already assured of receiving at least 20 percent) and they want to increase it to even 30 to 40 percent” he added.

Also on Tuesday, Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Kazuhiko Koshikawa announced on Twitter that the Philippines will receive AstraZeneca vaccines from Japan.

“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,” Koshikawa posted.

Following the US announcement “to help lead the world out of this pandemic”, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said during the 47th G7 Summit in the United Kingdom (UK) that they, too, will give away surplus supplies.

“As a result of the success of the UK’s vaccine program, we are now in a position to share some of our surplus doses with those who need them,” Johnson said on June 11, 2021, as quoted by VOA News. “In doing so, we will take a massive step towards beating this pandemic for good.”

The other G7 members are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the European Union, some of the world’s most advanced economies. (PNA)