Over 1.8 M Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines add to PH supply


A total of 1,813,500 doses of Pfizer coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine arrived in the country early Sunday morning, October 3, which brought the total supply to over 77 million doses.

Authorities load 1,813,500 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to ultra-cold freezers upon thier arrival at NAIA Terminal 1 on October 3, 2021. (Screenshot from PTV livestream)

The vaccines were transported from the United States onboard a Dehavilland Beaver U-6A fixed-wing, single engine aircraft that landed on Terminal 1 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) around 3:30 a.m.

The vaccines were again donated by the United States government to the Philippines via the global vaccine sharing initiative, the COVAX facility. Last Saturday, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. personally received the donation of 889,200 doses of Pfizer from America.

So far, the US government has donated 6,356,610 doses of Pfizer to the Philippines, including 3.5 million doses that arrived last week. It also donated 3,000,060 doses of Moderna and 3,240,850 doses of Janssen's Johnson & Johnson since July.

Galvez had said that a portion of the arriving vaccines this month would be allocated for the inoculation of children and adolescents aged 12 to 17 on October 15.

Meanwhile, a big bulk will be sent to regions that were being prioritized in the national vaccination program such as Calabarzon (Region 4-A), Central Luzon (Region 3), Central Visayas (Region 7), and Davao (Region 11) among others.

The total vaccine supply rose to 77,410,640 doses with the latest delivery of Pfizer donations. More than 58 million doses were deployed in different vaccination sites nationwide.

As of Saturday, the government has already administered 46,251,087 doses. There were 24,513,343 Filipinos who have received their first dose while 21,737,744 others have been fully vaccinated.