The country received an additional 362,700 doses of Pfizer vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Wednesday night, Aug. 25, a few days after it was given full authorization by the United States' Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The Pfizer jabs were delivered via Air Hong Kong flight LD456 which landed on Terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City at 8:29 p.m. They were purchased by the national government from US.
Assistant Secretary Wilben Mayor, head of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19's sub-task group on current operations, said 262,080 doses were unloaded at NAIA during the arrival ceremony. The vaccines were then transported to the cold chain facility of Pharmaserv Express, Inc. in Marikina City.
The vaccines are expected to be distributed in areas in Luzon with rising COVID-19 cases, particularly in the National Capital Region (NCR), Central Luzon (Region 3), and CALABARZON which covers Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon (Region 4A), Mayor said.
Meanwhile, 50,310 doses each were allocated in Visayas and Mindanao. The supplies for Visayas were delivered in Cebu around 6:35 p.m. Wednesday while the allocation for Mindanao will be flown on Thursday morning in Davao.
Last Monday, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave full approval to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for use of individuals aged 16 years and up which means that it can now be commercially sold.
"As we know, the US FDA has the most rigorous processes in the world and we're proud that the Pfizer vaccine has achieved full FDA approval for ages 16 and up," said David Gamble, US Embassy Counselor for Economic Affairs.
"We're hoping that here in the Philippines, there will be a similar approval too so that people can have the confidence that the fully approved vaccine is beyond the emergency use authorization," he added.
Currently, the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is only allowed for emergency use in the country. However, Mayor bared that the FDA has already coordinated with Pfizer for the application for a full authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine.
"The FDA has already coordinated with Pfizer for the submission of the necessary documents for that purpose," he said.
"We expect other vaccines will apply just like Pfizer. Sa US naman mabilis ang development (In the US, the development is fast). There are so many vaccines that, really, the focus is to have the full approval. We really expect and hope that by that time, magiging commercial na ang vaccine (the vaccine will be available commercially) so everybody can access the vaccine," he noted.
The latest delivery brought the cumulative vaccine supply at 48,885,590 doses which include 4,951,440 doses of procured and donated Pfizer jabs.