The country will receive its 100 millionth dose of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine with the scheduled delivery of Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs on Thursday, Oct. 28.
As of this writing, the vaccine supply stood at 97,678,340 doses but more than 2.8 million doses will be transported to the country from Wednesday night to Thursday night, according to the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19.
A total of 976,950 doses of Pfizer vaccine will arrive at Terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) around 9 p.m. Wednesday. The vaccines were purchased by the national government from the United States through its loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
It will be followed by the arrival of 896,000 doses of AstraZeneca around 12 p.m. Thursday at NAIA Terminal 1. The life-saving jabs will be donated by the Japanese government to the Philippines through bilateral vaccine sharing.
Lastly, another batch of 976,950 doses of government-procured Pfizer jabs will land on Terminal 3 of NAIA around 9 p.m. Thursday. The delivery will be attended by Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, to mark the arrival of the 100 millionth dose.
Once the three shipments are completed, the vaccine supply will reach 100,528,240 doses which are enough to fully vaccinate more than 50 million Filipinos.
As of Oct. 26, 26.2 million individuals were already fully vaccinated while 30.6 million received their first dose.
The national government had initially targeted to inoculate around 77 million eligible Filipinos, or 70 percent of the total 110 million population, before the end of 2021 to reach herd immunity.
However, the target was adjusted due to the emergence of the highly transmissible Delta variant which slowed down the vaccination program in August.
The government now eyes to vaccinate around 50 to 70 million by the end of the year, and up to 80 to 90 million before the May 2022 elections to achieve herd immunity.