Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. expressed confidence that there will be a more fair and impartial distribution of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines in each region this month as an additional one million doses of CoronaVac jabs made by Chinese vaccine manufacturer Sinovac Biotech were delivered on Wednesday morning, July 14.
The shipment carrying the Sinovac vaccines arrived at Terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City around 7:35 a.m. via Cebu Pacific flight 5J 671.
Galvez, also the chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, witnessed the arrival of the vaccines and disclosed that most of the jabs will be used for the second dose inoculation of its recipients.
He noted that the newly-delivered vaccines will be distributed in areas outside the National Capital Region Plus (NCR) where cases are surging.
The NCR, regarded as the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, has been receiving the majority of the vaccines that are arriving in the country.
However, local government units (LGUs) in Visayas and Mindanao have been calling on Galvez to bring more vaccines in provinces and cities outside the capital region since the cases there were already on a downward trend.
"Starting July, we will have a more equitable distribution ," he said.
The latest shipment was part of the total 26 million doses of Sinovac vaccines that were procured by the government from China this year.
Since February, Sinovac Biotech already delivered 13 million doses of its vaccines to the country. These include 11.1 million doses that were procured by the national government; 900,000 doses that were bought by the private sector and LGUs; and one million doses that were donated by China.
This month, an additional 6.5 million doses of Sinovac jabs will arrive in the country in three batches. The tentative dates of the deliveries are July 17 (1.5 million doses); July 24 or 25 (2.5 million doses); and July 30 or 31 (2.5 million doses).
With the recent delivery, the total vaccine supply rose to 21,779,910 doses.