PAL to pick up 400,000 Sinovac vaccines from China

A Philippine Airlines (PAL) B777 will be departing for Beijing on Tuesday night to pick up 400,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines.

The return flight to Manila will arrive on Wednesday morning at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2, according to PAL in a statement.

"This will be a milestone flight for PAL as it marks the flag carrier's first airlift of COVID-19 vaccines to Manila from an international hub," the airlines said.

With this mission, PAL will become the first local carrier to fetch and carry home COVID-19 vaccines for the country.

The Philippines started its vaccination program, with medical frontliners as priorities, on March 1 using Sinovac vaccines donated by China.

The government targets to finish vaccinating healthcare workers in May and expand the program to other sectors by April.

At present, the Philippines has 1.1 million doses allocated to healthcare workers, including 525,600 from the COVAX Facility and 600,000 doses donated by the Chinese government. —KBK, GMA News