Cebu Pacific (CEB) Thursday (April 29) delivered its first government-procured vaccine shipment of 500,000 doses of Sinovac from Beijing, China to Manila.
The vaccine shipment, made in coordination with the Department of Health (DOH), arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) at 7:18AM via 5J 671, a chartered Airbus A330 flight.
CEB immediately released the vaccines to the DOH upon arrival at the NAIA for distribution to various provinces in the archipelago in the coming days.
The airline is also supporting the local vaccine distribution initiative via its domestic network and expects to fly in more doses in the coming weeks.
To date, CEB already transported more than 760,000 doses of vaccines.
About 264,000 doses were delivered to six key cities in the Philippines, from Bacolod, Cotabato, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban to Tuguegarao, and Zamboanga.
“Our number one priority is to get the country back on track, and we are doing all we can to secure millions of vaccines from various sources all over the world. Collaborating with airlines in this endeavor is of utmost importance – the sooner we secure the vaccines and the faster these are distributed, the quicker we can finally get past this pandemic,” said vaccine czar, Sec. Carlito Galvez, Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force against COVID-19.
“We remain optimistic about the Philippines’ vaccine program and look forward to working even more closely with Cebu Pacific and our other Philippine carriers for future vaccine shipments,” added Galvez.
“This (latest) delivery marks our first international vaccine shipment and we are grateful for the trust and confidence of the DOH," stated CEB's Chief Operations Officer Michael Ivan Shau.
"We remain steadfast in our commitment to support our country’s recovery efforts in every way possible,” he concluded.