TOKYO – The Japanese government will give 4.5 billion yen emergency grant aid through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to the Philippines and 24 other nations in the Asia-Pacific region to support their COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday.
The assistance will allow these countries to establish cold chain logistics through the provision of refrigeration equipment and transportation vehicles.
“This Emergency Grant Aid is aimed at delivering vaccines to each and every person in the all corners of developing countries, which will complement efforts of the COVAX Facility,” MOFA said in a statement.
The other recipient countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, East Timor and Vietnam in Southeast Asia; Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Southwest Asia; and Cook Islands, Fiji, Micronesia, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu in the Pacific Island region.
Japan has also contributed 200 million US dollars to the COVAX Facility, an international framework set up to ensure and accelerate equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for developing economies.
The MOFA further said that “Japan will continue to extend support to deploy vaccines to every person in the world with a view to containing COVID-19 as quickly as possible.” - Florenda Corpuz
