924,300 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses arrive; some to go to minors

Almost a million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arrived in the Philippines on Monday, with some of them to be allocated to Filipinos in the 12 to 17 age group.

According to the National Task Force Against COVID-19, a total of 924,300 doses landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 at 4 p.m. They were donated by the United States and coursed through the global vaccine-sharing facility COVAX.

“This completes the 1.8 million, which is part of the 10 million donations of the US Government. On behalf of Secretary Galvez and the Philippine Government, we’d like to thank the US government for donating us these vaccines,” NTF Assistant Secretary Wilben Mayor said.

Mayor said the vaccines will be distributed across the country.

When asked if a portion of the vaccines will be allocated for the inoculation of minors, Mayor said, “yes.”

“Pfizer is one of the vaccines that will be used for the inoculation of our adolescents aged 12 to 17. Pfizer has already an EUA, which is intended for adolescents,” he said.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. previously said that the pilot vaccination of children with comorbidities aged 12 to 17 years will be conducted at eight hospitals starting October 15, with children aged 15 to 17 years old to be vaccinated first.

Mayor said a total of 87 million doses have arrived in the country.

As of October 8, the National Task Force Against COVID-19 said the Philippines has fully vaccinated 23 million Filipinos.

Meanwhile, the Philippines has logged a total of 2,674,814 confirmed cases. — BM, GMA News