After months of anxious waiting, the country has officially kicked-off its national vaccination program with the arrival of more than one million doses of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines beginning Sunday, Feb. 28.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, made the remark as top government officials led by President Duterte were scheduled to witness the delivery of 600,000 CoronaVac vaccines from Chinese pharmaceutical firm, Sinovac Biotech Ltd., around 5 p.m. at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City -- the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines to be delivered to the country.
On Monday, 525,600 vaccine doses from British-Swedish pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, will also arrive in the country.
"With the arrival of vaccines from Sinovac and AstraZeneca on Sunday and Monday, respectively, the country's vaccine rollout formally starts," Galvez said.
The Sinovac vaccines were donated by the Chinese government to the Philippines. The Chinese Embassy informed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) last February 13 that 500,000 doses will go to the national government while 100,000 doses will be alloted to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Meanwhile, the AstraZeneca jabs will come from the World Health Organization (WHO)-led COVAX facility, a global initiative for the equitable access of COVID-19 vaccines which the Philippines is a part of.
Both Sinovac and AstraZeneca have already been granted with an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
According to Galvez, the initial doses of vaccines will be administered at select major hospitals including the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila.
"Ito po ay isang pagpapatunay na ang lahat ng mga bakuna na ating ituturok sa ating mga kababayan ay ligtas at epektibo (This is a proof that all the vaccines that will be given to the people will be safe and effective)," Galvez said.
"Kaya't hinihikayat po namin ang ating mga kababayang Pilipino na magparehistro na sa kanilang mga barangay upang kayo ay makapagpabakuna na (That’s why we urge our fellow Filipinos to register in the barangays so they could be vaccinated)," he added.
Galvez himself will reportedly be vaccinated with Sinovac at the PGH on Monday, according to Senator Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go. The vaccine czar has yet to issue a direct confirmation as of this posting.
Other Cabinet secretaries including Health Secretary Francisco Duque and NTF deputy chief implementer and testing czar Vince Dizon will also be reportedly vaccinated with Sinovac.
Galvez said that the national government is continuously negotiating with multiple vaccine makers to achieve its target of inoculating 70 million Filipinos to achieve a "herd immunity," or an indirect protection when a sufficient perentage of a population has become immune to an infection.
The first negotiations could be traced back to November 2020 when the national government signed a tripartite agreement with AstraZeneca and the private sector for the delivery of 2.6 mllion vaccine doses.
Since then, the Galvez-led NTF has already secured a pledge of 148 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from different vaccine manufacturers and sources.