Top officials dealing with the Philippine's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response received on Thursday, June 24, additional two million doses of Sinovac which is seen to boost the national government;s free vaccination program.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, along with Manila Mayor Francisco 'Isko' Moreno, were at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 to receive the vaccine that came from Beijing, China on board Cebu Pacific flight 5J671.
The 1.6 million doses are consigned to the Department of Health (DOH) while the 400,000 doses are for the Local Government of Manila. The newly-arrived vaccines will immediately be transported to PharmaServ Express cold storage in Marikina City.
The arrival of the two million doses of vaccines is expected to boost the vaccination program as the government shifted its focus on those under the A4 classification, or the essential economic workers.
On Sunday,June 27, the first tranche of Moderna vaccines to be delivered in the country. The US-made vaccines were supposed to arrive on June 21 but it got delayed due to logistical problems. The NTF has yet to release more details for the arrival of the Moderna jabs.
The national government has secured 20 million doses of Moderna vaccines through a tripartite agreement with the private sector. Of the supply, 13 million doses were purchased by the government while seven million were bought by the private sector.
Once the Sinovac and Moderna deliveries are completed, it will raise the country's total supply of COVID-19 vaccines to 16,455,870 doses.