The Philippines is expected to receive around 1.695 million doses of coronavirus vaccines, including its initial supply of Russia's Sputnik V, this month, Malacañang announced Tuesday, April 20.
The upcoming delivery of vaccines will come from various suppliers, including China's Sinovac, Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute, and United States-based Pfizer, according to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque.
Roque said 500,000 doses of CoronaVac vaccines procured by the government from Sinovac will arrive in the country on Thursday, April 22.
The country's first batch of 20,000 Sputnik V vaccines will also arrive this coming Thursday.
On April 29, Roque said another half a million doses of Sinovac vaccines will be delivered on April 29.
A larger bulk of Sputnik V vaccines will also be transported to the country on the same day. These vaccine doses from Gamaleya will reach 480,000.
Towards the end of April, Roque said 195,000 Pfizer vaccines will be delivered to the country.
A possible delivery of AstraZeneca vaccines under the World Health Organization's COVAX facility may also be carried out this month.
The country has so far received over 3 million doses of vaccines, including 1.5 million Sinovac vaccines bought by the government. It augmented the initial 1 million vaccine stocks donated by China and another 525,600 AstraZeneca doses from the global vaccine acquisition scheme.
So far, around 1.2 million Filipinos have received their coronavirus shots under the government's free inoculation drive. The vaccination program has been sluggish due to the world’s limited vaccine supply.
The government is aiming to inoculate 70 million Filipinos this year to attain herd immunity.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez earlier relayed the country’s concern over the “hoarding” of vaccine supplies during an online United Nations special forum and appealed anew for fair and equitable access to the life-saving drug. He said hoarding the limited vaccines only “hurts everyone and the global response."