The country is anticipating the delivery of a total 54.5 million vaccine doses against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in September and October, a top government official revealed.
In a pre-recorded Cabinet meeting with President Duterte aired on Tuesday, Aug. 31, Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, said 25 million doses will be delivered in September while 29.5 million doses will arrive in October.
The deliveries for the month of September include 12 million doses of CoronaVac from Sinovac Biotech; five million doses of Pfizer; two million doses of Moderna; and one million doses each of AstraZeneca and the newly approved Sputnik Light.
An additional three million doses of COVID-19 jabs are set to be delivered by the global vaccine sharing initiative, COVAX facility, while another one million doses will come from bilateral donations.
Meanwhile, the deliveries for October include 10 million doses of CoronaVac from Sinovac Biotech; 10 million doses of Pfizer; three million doses of Moderna; and one million doses each of AstraZeneca and Sputnik Light. COVAX is also expected to transport three million doses while 1.5 million doses in bilateral donations will also arrive in the said month.
"Sa Sinovac ang ginawa namin, we have contracted already 10 million pero sinasabi namin kung pwede maifrontload ang another two million kasi kailangang-kailangan natin sa ating mga probinsya para makadami pa tayo (We already made a contract for an additional 10 million Sinovac but we are telling them to frontload another two million because we really need more for our provinces)," Galvez told President Duterte.
Further, the first two batches of Sputnik Light will be delivered after Galvez revealed last Aug. 23 that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Russian manufacturer Gamaleya Research Institute for the use of the single-dose vaccine.
The 10-million Pfizer delivery in October will also be the biggest single-day vaccine arrival that will take place in the country since the government started accepting jabs in February.
The country has received 48,885,590 vaccine doses so far, of which 33,099,392 doses were administered as of Aug. 30.
More than 19.31 million Filipinos have received their first dose while 13.78 million have been fully vaccinated.