The arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines from Sinovac and AstraZeneca will give renewed hopes to Filipinos who have been living in fear since the pandemic started in March last year, Vice President Leni Robredo said Sunday, March 7.
(Jansen Romero / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
“Matagal na panahon na, parang impatient tayo kasi nakikita natin itong mga bansa nagpapaturok na, nagroll-out na ng vaccination. Pero at last dumating na dito sa atin, so kahit papaano may certain degree iyong pag-asa na may padating na (We’ve been impatient for so long because we can see other countries rolling out their vaccination. But at least, the vaccines arrived here, so there’s a certain degree of hope na the vaccines are coming),” she said in her weekly radio show, “BISErbisyong Leni.”
Although the vaccine supplies in the country are still limited, Robredo noted that it will bring a source of comfort to Filipinos.
The vice president thanked the donors of the vaccines, namely the Chinese government and the United Kingdom which donated the AstraZeneca doses through the World Health Organization’s (WHO) COVAX facility.
On February 28, 600,000 doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine arrived, which prompted the rollout of the government’s vaccination program, which prioritizes health care workers for now.
On March 4, 487,200 doses from UK’s AstraZeneca arrived while the remaining 38,400 doses are set to be welcomed later.
Robredo noted that around 4.58 million doses of AstraZeneca have been earmarked for the Philippines.