National Task Force Deputy Chief Implementer and Testing Czar Vince Dizon on Wednesday, March 10, said that 117,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines are expected to arrive in the country by April.
In a virtual briefing, Dizon said the World Health Organization (WHO) has committed to deliver 117,000 doses of Pfizer coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines from the COVAX facility in the Philippines by April.
The first doses of Pfizer-BioNTech were due to arrive in February but was eventually deferred due to lack of an indemnification law in the Philippines and also logistical problems.
He added that the government is aiming to finish vaccinating all Filipino healthcare workers by April and May.
"Ang objective po natin ay by mid year ay natapos na natin ang healthcare workers pati na rin ang ating mga senior citizen. Pagdating po sana ng Moderna at ng ibang mga bakuna, magsisimula na tayo sa ating general population (Our objective is that by mid year, we have finished vaccinating our healthcare workers as well as our senior citizens. When Moderna and other vaccines arrive, we will start with our general population)," Dizon assured.
Dizon explained that 3.4 million doses of vaccines are needed to inoculate the country's 1.7 million healthcare workers.
Economic frontliners, such as jeepney drivers, tricycle drivers, bus drivers, and market vendors are also included in the priority list once the bulk of vaccines arrive in the country.
"Yan po ang mga uunahin natin lalo yung indigent population, ang hinihintay lang po natin talaga ay pagpasok ng maraming supply (We will start with them, especially the indigent population, we're just waiting for more vaccines)," Dizon added.
The Philippines needs to vaccinate 250,000 to 300,000 people per day to meet its goal of inoculating 50 million Filipinos by yearend.
Dizon said the first doses from Sinovac and over a half of those from AstraZeneca have already been delivered to hospitals all over the country.
At least 1.12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from China's Sinovac and British-Swede firm AstraZeneca have been delivered to the Philippines, so far.
The Sinovac vaccines were donated by China, while the AstraZeneca vaccines were secured through the vaccine-sharing COVAX facility.
Meanwhile, one million doses of Sinovac vaccines are also expected to be delivered in the country on March 21, 2021.