MANILA, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Friday that it approved a 400-million-U.S.-dollar loan to help the Philippines purchase safe and effective vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Manila-based bank said the Philippines is the first recipient of financing support under the ADB's Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (APVAX). The new loan will help the country save lives and allow Filipinos to return to "normal life as soon as possible," it added.

The ADB said the project will assist the Philippine Department of Health in procuring and ensuring delivery to the country of vaccines certified by the WHO-led COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility and bilateral vaccine suppliers that meet APVAX eligibility criteria.

The ADB said the project will be supported by 300 million U.S. dollars in cofinancing from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The ADB and AIIB loans will together fund the procurement of up to 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for as many as 50 million Filipinos.

The Philippines has one of the highest numbers of COVID-19 infections in Southeast Asia, with 607,048 confirmed cases as of March 11, including 12,608 deaths.

APVAX is ADB's 9-billion-U.S.-dollar vaccine initiative offering rapid and equitable support to its developing members as they procure and deliver effective and safe COVID-19 vaccines.

On March 1, the Philippines began its vaccinations of frontline health care workers using a batch of the Sinovac vaccines donated by China. The country also received last week an additional 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX facility.

The Philippines is negotiating to buy over 160 million vaccine doses from different pharmaceutical firms this year.

The government aims to vaccinate up to 70 million Filipinos of the 110 million population this year to achieve herd immunity, starting with health care workers, the elderly, and the poor communities.