Batch of 1.5M Sinovac vaccine doses arrives in Philippines

The Philippines received a batch of some 1.5 million more doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine doses on Thursday, according to a report of Sam Nielsen on Dobol B TV.

At 7:48 a.m., the additional supply of vaccine arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport through Flight 5J 671 of Cebu Pacific.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. welcomed the arrival of the vaccine.

According to the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19,  1 million more doses of Sinovac vaccine are expected to arrive on Friday.

In a statement on Thursday, the NTF said the country already secured 164 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine doses through procurement, while sourcing more shots from the COVAX facility and bilateral donations.

NTF chairperson Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and NTF Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. announced the update during the pre-SONA presser on Wednesday.

A total of 27,992,360 vaccine doses have been delivered out of the 164 million doses secured by the country, the NTF said.

“We are now awaiting the delivery of 136.1 million additional doses. On track in our vaccination program implementation, we are looking forward to having a better Christmas this year,” Lorenzana said.

Out of the 27 million delivered doses, the NTF said 13.2 million were procured by the national government, 2.2 million were purchased by the private sector and local government units, 10.2 million doses were COVAX-donated, and 2.1 million doses came from bilateral donations.

Of the 164 million secured doses, 26 million were government-procured Sinovac doses, 40 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses, 13 million Moderna doses, and 10 million Sputnik V doses.

Also, the private sector and LGUs have procured 7 million doses of Moderna and 17 million doses of Astrazeneca vaccines.

Meanwhile, around 2 million doses will come from bilateral donations, while 44 million doses have been committed by the COVAX facility.

As of July 20, the NTF said the country has administered 15,616,562 doses of anti-COVID 19 vaccines nationwide.

Around 10.5 million people have already received their first dose, while more than five million individuals have been fully vaccinated, the NTF added. —LBG, GMA News