The Philippines was the last country to officially receive COVID-19 vaccines among ASEAN member states. This translated to Filipinos being vaccinated less or later than our neighbors in the region, who had started mass vaccination campaigns as early as December 2020.

In fact, figures from Our World in Data reveal that the Philippines ranks among the least in terms of the share of the population that is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and vaccine (both primary series and booster) doses administered per 100 people, outranking only Myanmar and East Timor in Southeast Asia.

From global issues on supply or procurement to local shortcomings in manufacturing and distribution, the poor state of vaccine equity is just one of the many facets of inequity that lower- and middle-income countries like the Philippines continue to experience. This further worsens the divide between the haves and have-nots, in terms of access to health services which can spell life or death in a public health emergency.

The Coalition for People’s Right to Health, in cooperation with the People’s Vaccine Alliance, Advocates of Science and Technology for the People (AGHAM), Biomedical Innovations Research for Translational Health Science (BIRTHS), and the UP Physician-Scientist Association (PSA) are holding a Health and Vaccine Equity (HaVE) Summit on 16 June 2023, Friday, from 10am-5pm. This event will take place at the 7/F Plenary Hall of the Henry Sy Sr. Medical Sciences Building at the UP College of Medicine in Manila, which can also be attended online via Zoom.

Speakers and activities will highlight the struggles and successes in asserting and building health equity in global, regional, and local contexts, with a particular focus on the Philippine experience amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the continuing public health crisis.

Registration details will be posted soon—as we invite health and science advocates, scientists and medical researchers, communities affected by such inequities, and anyone interested in what having health and vaccine equity truly means, given our inalienable human right to health as well as to benefit from scientific progress.