The Bureau of Customs (BOC)-Port of NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) has cleared the shipment of 3,000,060 doses of Moderna vaccines that arrived as donation from the United States (US) on Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 3.
The American-made jabs which provide protection against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were reportedly pre-cleared on Monday Aug. 2 via the BOC-NAIA One Stop Shop.
Tuesday's shipment was the biggest donation to the Philippines by a single country as far as the life-saving jabs were concerned.
The immediate facilitation of essential goods such as COVID-19 vaccines is part of the BOC's support to the vaccination program of the national government, the agency said.
About 17 million more Moderna accines are anticipated to arrive in the coming weeks and months under the tripartite supply agreement with Moderna, Inc., which the Philippines signed last March this year.
The bureau said it will continue to work around the clock to ensure the expeditious facilitation of COVID-19 vaccine shipments amid the threat posed to the Philippines by the highly transmissible Delta variant, which is ravaging countries in Southeast Asia.