AstraZeneca vaccine rollout kicks off in Parañaque
The remaining 38,400 doses of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines from British-Swede drugmaker AstraZeneca will be delivered to the country on Sunday night, March 7, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. announced.
Galvez, who led the rollout of AstraZeneca vaccines in Paranaque City on Saturday, said that the vaccines are part of the 525,600 doses that were initially committed by the World Health Organization (WHO)-led Covax facility to the country.
"I would also like to tell the public that the remaining 38,400 doses from the first shipment will arrive tomorrow (Sunday) around 7 p.m. The promise of Covax to deliver all of the 525,600 doses will finally be fulfilled," he said.
Galvez said that the vaccines will be flown via a commercial plane.
The first batch of the AstraZeneca vaccines -- consisted of 487,200 doses -- arrived at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City last Thursday with President Duterte leading the government officials who witnessed its delivery.
The first doses of AstraZeneca vaccines were used to inoculate`healthcare workers at the Ospital ng Paranaque District II. The vaccinees were led by Dr. Olga Virtusio, 60, city health officer of Paranaque.
"Do not worry about the supply for the second dose of the vaccination because we have many more vaccines arriving," Galvez said.
The vaccine czar said around 4.5 to 4.9 million vaccine doses from the Covax facility will be received by the government until May this year for the inoculation of 20 percent of the total population.
He noted that the vaccination of around 1.7 million healthcare workers nationwide will be prioritized in the inoculation program "to preserve our healthcare institutions."
"This is the recommendation of the World Health Organization and the NITAG . If we do not follow this, the delivery of the vaccines to our country might be jeopardized," Galvez said.
After the healthcare workers, next to be vaccinated are senior citizens, persons with comorbidities, other government workers, and economic frontliners.
Last Monday, Galvez said that the vaccination of the general public might begin in the second quarter of the year, possibly around May, after all priority sectors are finished.