2M COVID-19 vaccine doses expected to arrive this month — Galvez

Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Tuesday the Philippines would receive two million doses of COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by China’s Sinovac and Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute this month.

Of the 2 million doses, 1.5 million will be delivered by Sinovac while 500,000 will come from Gamaleya, Galvez said at a Palace news conference.

As for the additional donated AstraZeneca vaccine doses under the COVAX Facility, Galvez said they are using diplomatic channels to ensure that the country will be able to receive them.

Galvez said the AstraZeneca shots might arrive later this month, citing information from World Health Organization country representative Rabindra Abeyasinghe.

“Because of the global vaccine shortage, there will be a delay. The agreed quantity which was 920,000 vaccine doses will come but because of the shortage, what we have been informed is that we may need to expect the reduced quantity which may come over [in] the next few weeks,” Abeyasinghe told reporters on Monday.

“But eventually as production peaks up, we will deliver on the 20% of vaccines to cover 20% of the population. So this is the agreement that COVAX has with the Philippine government and we are still committed to do that.”

More than 800,000 Filipinos have already received a COVID-19 vaccine since the mass immunization program started on March 1, according to government data. — RSJ, GMA News