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The Covid-19 vaccine will soon arrive and alleviate our anxiety. Its distribution will require massive logistics and the Philippines must prepare for this eventuality to make sure our people have safe, fast and equitable access to the vaccines.

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a sobering assessment last week on the development of a vaccine against COVID-19. WHO officials said that “it did not expect widespread immunization against the novel coronavirus until mid-2021”. The statement came after a series of positive news from various countries racing to develop a vaccine that will neutralize the coronavirus which has so far infected more than 27 million people around the world and killed almost 900,000.

The latest unemployment data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority last week is revealing to policy-makers. The unemployment rate significantly dropped to 10 percent in July from a record-high of 17.7 percent in April.