Additional 3.4 million doses of coronavirus vaccines are expected to be delivered to the country in June when the government starts to vaccinate prioritized groups of essential workers in Metro Manila and eight other places.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the upcoming coronavirus vaccines, which are expected to boost the country's vaccination drive, will come from Sinovac, Pfizer, and Moderna.
Based on the delivery schedule, Roque said 1 million doses of Sinovac vaccines procured by the government will arrive on June 6, followed by 1.3 million doses of Pfizer vaccines on June 7.
Another 900,000 Pfizer jabs will be delivered to the country on June 11. The country can also expect 200,000 doses of Moderna vaccines.
With the arrival of more vaccines, Roque said the first phase of vaccination of the A4 priority group or the workforce will begin initially in NCR and eight other areas. The cluster includes Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, and Rizal.
The government has refined the list of workers eligible for early vaccination.
According to Roque, vaccine priority will be given to private sector workers required to be present in their workplace, employees in government agencies, as well as informal sector workers and self-employed required to work outside their houses.
In the latest data provided by Roque, the first phase of the vaccine deployment for A4 will focus on 13 million workers in NCR+8, where majority of the coronavirus cases in the country have been recorded. Another 22.5 million workers will then included from areas outside NCR+8, that will bring the total estimate to 35.5 million.
The country has so far received over 8 million coronavirus vaccines, including Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, and Pfizer shots. The country's recent shipment involved the 50,000 more doses of Sputnik V vaccines Sunday, May 30.
Roque said the Sputnik V vaccines would be deployed to "centers of gravity" or places experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases.
Over a million people have been fully vaccinated so far in the country. It aims to inoculate 9.7 million people in National Capital Region to reach "population protection" by late November 2021.