A total of 1,363,300 doses of Moderna vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were delivered to the country on Saturay afternoon, Oct. 9 -- the 11th batch of transported jabs in just nine days.
Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, witnessed the arrival of the United States-made jabs at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 around 4 p.m. via China Airlines flight CI 703.
The vaccines were procured by the national government and the private sector which was represented by the International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) through a trilateral agreement.
Of the delivered supply, 885,700 doses would go to the government while 477,600 doses are allocated to the private sector.
"This is a remarkable development in the vaccine supply in the country. As we call it, this is now our harvest time. For the past days, the country has been receiving 1.5 million doses of vaccine on a daily average," Galvez said.
More than 14.25 million doses of vaccines were delivered from Oct. 1 to 9, according to Galvez.
This was a big improvement compared to the situation months ago when the country had to rely on donations from other countries and organizations to supply life-saving jabs to the people.
US Embassy Deputy Councilor for Economic Affairs Zeenat Syed said the US government was elated that the vaccines they have delivered would help millions of Filipinos be protected against the dreaded illness.
"The United States is very proud that US vaccines are supporting the government's vaccination effort and that they are helping vaccinate millions of Philippine citizens against COVID-19," she said.
Now that the supply has stabilized, the vaccine czar hopes that more people will take the jab so that the country can hit its target of fully vaccinating 50 percent of the 77 million eligible population by year end, and safely re-open the economy.
"With the steady arrival of these vaccines, we call on our local leaders including our regional directors, offices and IATF to set aside political differences and focus on our efforts to inoculate as many people as possible," Galvez said.
"Our collective mission here is for us to open and recover our economy and safely exit to the pandemic. I'm calling everyone to take the jab the soonest possible time," he stated.
The country has now received 85,575,600 doses of vaccines since the deliveries started in February this year.
Of the delivered vaccines, 48,925,516 doses were administered nationwide as of Thursday. More than 26 million people have received their first dose while 22.8 million others have been fully vaccinated.