The Bureau of Customs (BOC) through the Port of NAIA has so far cleared and released over 3.02 million doses of coronavurus disease (COVID-19) vaccines from both Sinovac and AstraZeneca.
The latest batch of the vaccines--some 500,000 doses of China-made Sinovac--arrived from Beijing aboard Philippine Airlines (PAL) PR361 at around 5 p.m. Sunday, April 11.
Two days prior, the vaccine--which came via government procurement--underwent pre-arrival clearance at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport(NAIA) One-Stop-Shop. There process only took 15 minutes.
Upon arrival, the shipment was immediately transferred to the Metropac facility where the other vaccines are stored to ensure the integrity and safety of the vaccines prior to distribution across the nation
BOC Commissioner Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero ensured the agency's continuing commitment to support the national government mass inoculation program against COVID-19 by assuring the immediate processing of legitimately imported vaccines while preventing all fraudulent attempts to import unregistered vaccines and related medical goods.
For her part, NAIA District Collector Carmelita M. Talusan says active coordination and cooperation with concerned government agencies are continuously being undertaken to further streamline and improve clearance processes of the anti-COVID jabs.
The Philippine government has procured or purchased 1.5 million out of the over 3 million doses of the vaccines shipped to the country so far. The rest have come in the form of donations.