The supply of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines will likely be stable in the third quarter of the year, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. bared Tuesday, April 20.
Galvez, vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, admitted that the arrival of vaccines in the first and second quarter are coming in "trickles."
With this, he asked for patience as he said that the volume of the procured vaccines will start coming in July, August, and September.
"Ang ating bigger volumes, ang ating kontrata sa seven portfolio ng vaccines natin ay darating more or less third quarter or fourth quarter. Pagdating ng July, August, September ay dadagsa po iyon (The bigger volumes included in the seven contracts in our portfolio of vaccines will arrive more or less in the third or fourth quarter. By July, August, and September they will come in big volumes)," said Galvez, who graced the opening of the Manila COVID-19 field hospital at the Luneta Park.
In the second quarter, Galvez said the government is anticipating the arrival of up to 14 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
In April, a total two million doses of CoronaVac and Sputnik V vaccines from China's Sinovac Biotech and Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute, respectively, will arrive in batches. Sinovac already fulfilled its commitment to deliver the first batch of 500,000 doses last April 11.
There are also four million doses of vaccines that will be delivered in May, and seven to eight million doses in June.
Galvez said the arriving vaccines -- including those from CoronaVac, Sputnik V, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Moderna -- will be used for the continuous inoculation of the remaining healthcare workers, senior citizens, persons with co-morbidities and other priority sectors.
"Kung ano ang recommendation ng DOH, FDA, at NITAG sa mga darating na vaccine pa, ito ang gagawin (Whatever the recommendation that will come from the Department of Health, Food and Drug Administration, and National Immunization Technical Advisory Group, we will follow it)," he concluded.