PH Supports Pooled Procurement, Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccines for ASEAN Member States
PH SOM Leader Acting Undersecretary Elizabeth P. Buensuceso joins other senior foreign ministry officials of ASEAN Member States in the 6thMeeting of the ASEAN Coordinating Council Working Group on Public Health Emergencies at their first gathering this year.
PASAY CITY, 19 February 2021 – The Philippine delegation, led by Philippine Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) SOM Leader Acting Undersecretary Elizabeth P. Buensuceso, emphasized Philippines’ support on the proposal to utilize the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund (CARF) for the procurement and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines for ASEAN Member States, as well as for the prioritization of training and capacity-building of medical and health professionals and other frontliners during the 6th meeting of the ASEAN Coordinating Council Working Group on Public Health Emergencies (ACCWG-PHE) via videoconference on 18 February 2021.
The Philippines also reaffirmed its commitment in upholding the primacy of each ASEAN members’ national roadmaps in vaccine allocation, delivery, and inoculation of its peoples; expressed support in the creation of an ASEAN Travel Corridor Arrangement Framework in order to speed up the region’s economic recovery by facilitating safe travel of persons in the region; as well as the establishment of the ASEAN Centre for Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases, a collaboration between ASEAN and Japan, which would lead to technology, management, and information transfers. END
Senior Officials from ASEAN Member States and the ASEAN Secretariat posed for a group photo.