MANILA — The United States will send to the Philippines next month some 800,000 to 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, the Philippines' envoy to Washington said on Tuesday, as the country continued to battle one of Asia's longest running coronavirus outbreaks.

The US earlier this month announced a plan to share to the world 80 million surplus jabs, said Philippine Ambassador to the US Manuel "Babe" Romualdez.

"Doon sa 80 million na 'yon (out of that 80 million), we are going to get something close to 800 [thousand] to 1 million doses, either Moderna or AstraZeneca from their stockpile, which is expected to be given to us by next month," he said in a Malacañang press briefing.

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The Philippines will also benefit from the US pledge to buy and donate to low income countries some 500 million COVID-19 shots, Romualdez said.

"We're getting quite a substantial amount of doses of vaccines coming from the United States," he said.

On top of this, Manila has reserved some 50 million booster shots with US firm Moderna for next year, said the ambassador.

"We're in good shape as far as our vaccines are concerned," he added.

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Authorities have taken delivery of some 14.2 million coronavirus vaccine doses and have administered at least 8.4 million.

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Video courtesy of PTV