An additional 20 million doses of coronavirus vaccines may be delivered to the country in the second quarter of the year, according to vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr.
The forthcoming supplies will come from AstraZeneca, Novavax, Sinovac, and the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility, Galvez said amid the government's ongoing immunization drive.
The "indicative deliveries" of the coronavirus vaccines were mentioned by Galvez during a meeting with President Duterte and other government officials on pandemic response Monday night in Davao City.
"Kung June, July, sa second quarter, we expect na mayroon tayong ano, sir, nandiyan ang Sinovac at saka 'yong nandiyan din po 'yong COVAX at saka iyong Novavax. And then also 'yong ano sir sa May - June, baka dumating na rin po 'yong AstraZeneca. Mayroon pong order ang ano ang private sector na 2.6 million (By June, July, the second quarter, we expect to have some from Sinovac, COVAX and Novavax. And then also by May to June, AstraZeneca vaccines may arrive. The private sector placed an order of 2.6 million)," Galvez said during his remarks aired on state television Monday.
"So nakita po natin baka humigit po tayo ng mga ano mga 20 million po ang ating makukuha between ano --- between the ano April, May, June po, sir, iyong ano ‘yong second quarter (So we can see that we may have around 20 million between April, May, June, the second quarter)," he added.
He noted that the vaccine brands secured by the Philippines are also being used in other countries. "Iyong Novavax, sir, this will be a future generation vaccine considering it is also being tested for UK variant at saka po iyong South African variant," he added. The government has started the vaccine rollout early this month, prioritizing the health frontliners in the immunization, after receiving the initial supplies. The vaccination is being held in various public and private hospitals.
So far, Galvez said the country has received 1,125,600 coronavirus vaccines developed by Sinovac and AstraZeneca. Of this number, 600,000 Sinovac doses were donated by China to the country. Around 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca were delivered to the country through the WHO's global scheme to ensure equitable vaccine access.
Galvez said the government has started to deliver the vaccine doses to various vaccination sites in the country. Apart from Metro Manila, he said the immunization of medical workers has already been conducted in Cagayan de Oro, Cebu and Davao. He cited the improving public confidence in vaccines as more health workers are willing to get inoculated to boost protection against coronavirus.
"Tuwang-tuwa po sir, Mr. President, ang BARMM kasi nakatanggap din po sila at alam po natin ang Sinovac ay halal po 'yan (BARMM is very happy because they also received the Sinovac vaccines, which are deemed halal)," he said.
"And then nag-ano rin po tayo --- nag-roll out din po tayo sa mga different --- different civilian hospital kasama po ang Makati Medical Center (And then we also had a rollout in different civilian hospitals including Makati Medical Center)," he added.