A team of three Israeli health experts arrived in the Philippines on Sunday to assist the island nation in its COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
“On behalf of the Philippine government, I wish to thank the Israeli government for sending this mission and the members of the medical team for their generosity in taking part in this mission to share their expertise in ensuring the success in combating coronavirus and the vaccination program in the Philippines,” Philippine Ambassador to Israel Macairog S. Alberto said in a statement on Saturday. “Truly, Israel is a dear friend, ready to always lend a helping hand.”
Three doctors are on the mission: Avraham Ben Zaken, deputy director of medical technologies and infrastructure development at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv; Dafna Segol, senior strategic planner of the Health Ministry’s COVID-19 control center; and Adam Segal, logistics and operations manager at SLE, a Teva Pharmaceuticals subsidiary.
The team was welcomed at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila by National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr., local media reported.
The Israeli health professionals will assist with the vaccine rollout strategy, including safe handling and how to address vaccine hesitancy and the gradual transition to less-stringent quarantine restrictions, he said.
“Their arrival in the Philippines will help us fine-tune our vaccination rollout,” Galvez said in a statement published by Inquirer.net, a Philippine news site. “We want to learn from the best practices being implemented in Israel and hopefully, replicate and use them in crafting our country’s policies.”
The Philippine government on Sunday said it had purchased 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which are slated to arrive in September. It has also ordered doses of China’s Sinovac, Russia’s Sputnik V, the US’s Moderna and Britain’s AstraZeneca vaccine, it said.
About one-third of Filipinos are willing to be vaccinated, a noncommissioned Social Weather Survey taken from April 28 to May 2 found. Vaccinating the majority of the adult population by the end of the year is a priority, the Philippine government has said.
So far, some eight million vaccine doses have been administered, according to Reuters data, or less than 4% of the population of some 106 million.
The Israeli team is expected to stay in the Philippines through June 25.