THE government has released over P660.51 billion as of May 31 to implement the vaccine rollout and other initiatives to fight the pandemic, Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado said on Tuesday.

Avisado reported this to the senators as they reconvened the Senate Committee of the Whole (CoW) to review the national vaccination program against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

He said that of the amount more than P387.17 billion were sourced from the funds under the Bayanihan 1 law while over P200.12 came from the enforcement of Bayanihan 2 law. The rest, P73.21 billion, were taken from regular government funds.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said an additional P25 billion is needed to buy vaccines for children ages 12 years old and above and possible 'booster shots' for adults.

He also said that the government would need at least P60 billion allocation in the 2022 national budget to continue the vaccination program next year.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said the Philippines is expected to receive over 11.6 million doses in July.

He said that the over P88.563 billion allotted for vaccine procurement were meant to buy 148 million doses to inoculate over 70 million Filipinos or 100 percent of the adult population.

Senate President Vicente Sotto 3rd, head of the CoW, said the panel deemed it necessary to reconvene to update the public on the status of the vaccination program and the utilization of its P82.5 billion budget.

The CoW wanted also to discuss the possibility of amending the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases quarantine protocols to make it attuned with the direction to open the economy safely and to ease the burden on overseas Filipino workers and returning overseas Filipinos who are directly affected by the ever-changing and lengthy travel and quarantine protocols.

'We are exercising our oversight powers not to criticize the government's response in addressing the pandemic, but to help find progressive solutions to the evolving problems we are facing today,' Sotto said.