Philippines receives over 2.1M Moderna, 660K AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines

The Philippines on Friday morning received over 2.1 million doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and more than 660,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

At 9:35 a.m., the new supply of vaccine arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 via flight CI 701.

A total of 1,384,280 Moderna doses will go to the national government while 747,860 doses to the private sector, the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) said.

Meanwhile, a total of 661,100 AstraZeneca doses will go to the private sector.

As of Wednesday, the NTF said 22.6 million Filipinos or 29.37% of the target population are already fully vaccinated.

NTF chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., Health Secretary Francisco Duque III,  MMDA chairperson Benhur Abalos, and Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion personally welcomed the arrival.

Also present were US Embassy Counselor for Economic Affairs David ‘Chip’ Gamble, A Dose of Hope project lead adviser Josephine Romero, AstraZeneca Philippines president Lotis Ramin, and Zuellig Pharma Corp. chief business officer Janette Jakosalem.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. expressed confidence that the Philippines can achieve its target of fully inoculating 50% to 70% of its target population by the of 2021. — RSJ, GMA News