OFFICIALS from the United States Embassy and Filipino legislators held a hybrid virtual and in-person event on October 13 to launch the inaugural meeting of the US-Philippines Congressional Friendship Caucus.
Said caucus is a cross-party group of members from the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives seeking to strengthen bilateral ties of the two nations.
Established in 2021 in honor of the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, the caucus will sponsor events in partnership with the US Embassy and help deepen links between the Philippine legislative branch and the US government. Membership is open to any senator or member of Congress interested in joining.
At the launch, the embassy shared insights on ways the pandemic has affected the US, and how the experiences have shaped its local assistance. Participants heard from presenters in the State of California about their experience with the pandemic, as well as representatives from US vaccine manufacturers.
Officials from the US Agency for International Development, or USAID, also presented information about US support to the Philippines both bilaterally and through the COVAX facility that delivers vaccines around the globe.
The embassy said its government is proud to support pandemic-relief efforts in the Philippines since the outbreak began. Through COVAX, the US has facilitated local delivery of more than 24.3 million vaccines, including more than 16.4 million doses provided by Americans.
Since the beginning of October the Philippines has received more than 7.4 million doses jointly provided by the US and COVAX.
At the pandemic’s onset, the US had also provided more than P1.9 billion (or $39 million) to support the Philippines’s pandemic response. This has helped train health-care workers, establish quarantine facilities, improve public-health communication, enhance vaccine rollout, and support economic-recovery efforts.
The US, the embassy added, is the leading donor to the COVAX facility, and has contributed about $4 billion to fund equitable vaccine access around the world. With the financial aid and those of other contributors, COVAX has already shipped millions of doses of AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to the Philippines. By the end of 2023 COVAX will have provided vaccines to one in every three Filipinos.