Dizon: Arrival of 117k doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine delayed by paperwork

The arrival of 117,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine provided under the COVAX facility has been slightly delayed due to paperwork, Deputy Chief Implementer Vince Dizon of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 said.

“Nagkaron ng kaunting delay dahil sa processing ng mga dokumento sa COVAX facility at sa WHO (World Health Organization),” Dizon said during the Palace briefing on Thursday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. earlier said that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX facility will arrive mid-February and that the Philippine government is ready to start its COVID-19 mass vaccination by February 15.

Under the government’s COVID-19 mass vaccination program, those first in line to get these vaccines are those workers in health facilities, specifically those in COVID-19 referral hospitals in Metro Manila, as well as in the cities of Cebu and Davao which are equipped to store Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines that require a -70 to -80 degrees Celsius storage.

Roque, however, said on Thursday that 600,000 doses of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines Sinovac donated by the Chinese government will arrive on February 23.

Sinovac, however, has yet to secure an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.

A vaccine needs to secure an EUA from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for it to be legally administered in the Philippines.

Sinovac’s EUA application is still pending with the FDA. 

Gradual rollout

Dizon said the government will have an initial vaccine rollout in March.

“Sa first quarter po, ito ang tinatawag nating mini rollout – anywhere between three to five million doses ang ating inaasahan sa first quarter ng 2021. Ito po ay manggagaling mostly sa COVAX facility, pero nag-announce na rin po ang ating spokesperson na mayroon tayong mga darating na mga bakuna galing sa Tsina na kanilang ibinigay bilang isang grant,” Dizon said.

By the second quarter, Dizon said that the supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses will increase to five to nine million before the full rollout in the third quarter of the year.

“Sa third quarter po, ito na po ay magiging full rollout kasama ng COVAX allocation pati na rin po ang major deliveries galing sa national government pati na rin po iyong mga in-order ng ating mga private sector partners at ng LGUs. At sa quarter four, todo rollout na po iyan at padating na rin po ang remaining allocation ng COVAX at iyong mga major deliveries galing sa ating government procurement through the Asian Development Bank at World Bank,” Dizon added.— RSJ, GMA News