DEPUTY Speaker and Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez on Thursday urged the United States (US) to donate its extra coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) vaccines to the Philippines.

Rodriguez said the US would have surplus vaccine since it has contracted supply that is more than what it needs for its population.

In fact, he said chief White House pandemic response adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci was quoted in a report as saying that America would no longer need the millions of doses it has agreed to buy from British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca.

“The US can donate those doses to us, including its excess from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson,” Rodriguez said.

He noted that the US has administered more than 200 million doses to its estimated 330-million population.

“Our access to western-made vaccines will lessen our country’s dependence on China’s CoronaVac and give Filipinos vaccination options,” Rodriguez said.

As of now, he said Filipinos have no choice “but to take the China-made shot because it is the only one available.”

“Our remaining supply consists of perhaps only a few thousand doses of CoronaVac, while AstraZeneca has run out, forcing many vaccination centers to pause immunization. We badly need additional supply,” Rodriguez said.

The House leader pointed out that US vaccine donation to the Philippines would also strengthen relations between the two countries.

“It would likewise be a counterpart gesture to the Chinese donation of one million doses of CoronaVac. They could send us one million doses of AstraZeneca, which the government could give to the more than half a million healthcare workers and seniors citizens who have received their first shot of the British-Swedish vaccine that was donated by the World Health Organization (WHO),” he added.

Some 526,000 doses came from the WHO vaccine sharing facility. AstraZeneca is a two-dose jab, but President Duterte has allowed the 526,000 doses to be used as first shot to cover more health personnel and senior citizens.

The recipients, many of whom received the first dose last month, have been worrying about the booster shot since additional supply from WHO has been delayed.

Rodriguez said if the AstraZeneca vaccine recipients do not get their booster on time, they would have to eventually repeat their first-dose shot.

He said it may not be possible for them to take a different vaccine because the Department of Health (DoH) does not advise mixing shots.(RPP)