Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian on Friday announced that China will supply nearly 10 million more doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines within this month.
Huang made this announcement during the ceremony for the turnover of one million doses of Sinopharm vaccine donated by the government of China to the Philippines.
In his remarks, the Chinese ambassador said China sympathizes with the Philippines concerning the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the country brought about by the spread of Delta and other variants of the coronavirus 2019.
“And in the meantime, (we will) substantively increase the vaccine supply to the Philippines this month. Nearly 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines are scheduled to arrive here in August,” he said.
With the arrival of more China-made vaccines this month, Huang said the total number of Chinese vaccines delivered to the Philippines since February is expected to reach nearly 30 million doses.
“We sincerely hope these jabs would alleviate substantially the shortage of vaccines and save more lives from the virus,” he said.
Huang noted that the current difficult situation highlights the friendship and partnership between the two nations and two peoples, even as he stressed China’s commitment to continue its cooperation with the Philippines and to provide more vaccines to help defeat the virus and revitalize the economy.
With the COVID-19 still ravaging the world, the Chinese diplomat said more nations should stick together and promote unity and strengthen cooperation instead of politicizing the issue and shifting the blames to others.
He also thanked President Duterte for gracing the virtual ceremony and to those working very hard to make the vaccine delivery happen in a timely manner.