The Philippines is anticipating the delivery of at least 2.6 million doses of vaccines against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) this month as calls for the fast-tracking of the vaccination program grow louder amid the rapid increase of new cases.

Data from the National Task force (NTF) Against COVID-19 showed that the deliveries for this month include 1.5 million doses of CoronaVac vaccines from China's Sinovac Biotech; 100,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccines from Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute; and one million doses of vaccines --most likely from British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca-- through the Covax facility.

As of Saturday, April 3, there were 795,320 individuals who have been inoculated against COVID-19, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Monday, April 5.

Of these, 765,871 are medical frontliners, 16,121 are senior citizens, and 13,288 are individuals with comorbidities.

The vaccines from China and Russia are part of procurements made by the government.

Meanwhile, it is not clear if the delivery through the Covax is the second tranche of the vaccine supply secured by the government from the World Health Organization (WHO)-led facility.

After the delivery of the first tranche consisted of 525,600 doses in March, the Covax facility has yet to fulfil its commitment of sending the second tranche of vaccines -- comprised of 979,200 doses -- to the country.

NTF chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. had said that the delivery of the second tranche from the Covax facility was originally scheduled on March 22. Since then, the delivery had been moved twice -- to March 29, and from March 29 to April 2.

There is no exact date yet as to when the vaccines will be delivered.

However, lawmakers have urged the government to seize the opportunity that quarantine restrictions were tightened anew to fast-track the vaccination program.

Senator Ralph Recto, Senate President Pro Tempore, and Senator Joel Villanueva, Senate labor committee chairman, called for a quicker rollout of the vaccination program so more workers could be protected which could lead to the opening of the economy.

Prior to this, Galvez had explained that the shortage in the supply of vaccines has hindered the government from scaling up the vaccination program.

But once more vaccines arrive, he projected that the vaccination will pick up its pace from 500,000 to one million weekly this month.

From March 29 to April 4, the country recorded a total of 73,274 new cases in a span of one week, according to daily data provided by the Department of Health (DOH).

The highest single-day tally was noted on April 2 with 15,310 new cases which, the DOH said, included 3,700 backlog cases on March 31.