The Bureau of Customs - Port of NAIA (BOC-NAIA), in coordination with the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) has successfully processed the release of the latest batch of CoronaVac brand vaccines to arrive in the country.
Arriving aboard Cebu Pacific flight no.5J671 at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, May 20 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 were 500,000 doses of the vaccines manufactured by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
The shipment, consigned to the Department of Health (DOH), was pre-cleared on May 19 at the COVID-19 One-Stop-Shop (OSS) of BOC-NAIA. The same pre-arrival clearance has been observed in all vaccine shipments to the country the past few months.
The vaccines were immediately loaded in a van and transported to the Pharmaserv Cold Storage Facility. A BOC Special Covax Team escorted the van to its destination.
With the latest delivery, the country has now received a total of 8,279,050 doses of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines from either donations or government procurement. Of the jabs, 5.5 million are Sinovac, 2.556 million are AstraZeneca, 30,000 are Sputnik V, and 193,050 are Pfizer.
BOC Commissioner Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero said the agency remains committed to work toward the expeditious release of COVID-19 vaccines in a bid to support the vaccination program of the national government.