728,910 more Pfizer vaccine doses arrive

The Philippines on Thursday accepted 728,910 additional doses of Pfizer vaccines to augment its national immunization program against COVID-19.

The shipment arrived in Ninoy Aquino Terminal 3 which will be delivered to Davao City, according to state media PTV.

Of the 728,910 doses, 677,430 were delivered to Metro Manila while 51,480 doses already arrived in Cebu.

Of the 677,430 doses, 92,430 doses will be delivered to Davao City on Friday, Sept. 24.

At the sidelines of the shipment arrival, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the country has received a total of 66.9 million doses of various vaccines.

In total, the country also received 11 million Pfizer COVID-19 jabs.

American President Joe Biden had announced that it would donate 500 million more COVID-19 vaccines that will be donated to other countries.

Galvez said Philippines will also receive its share of these US-donated vaccines.

"Biden announced that they will be giving  500 million more Pfizer vaccines and we were informed that the Philippines will be part of low-income countries that will be given fresh donations of another Pfizer vaccine," said Galvez.

As of Sept. 20, 18,560,409 Filipinos are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. This number is still far from the target for herd immunity, which aims to fully vaccinate 70% of Philippine population.—LDF, GMA News