More than 3.8 million doses of Sinovac-CoronaVac and Pfizer coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines were transported to the country on Thursday night, Nov. 11, ahead of the proposed massive National Vaccination Day.
First to arrive was the shipment from China containing three million Sinovac shots. The vaccines were delivered aboard Philippine Air Lines (PAL) flight PR359 at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 around 6 p.m.
Meanwhile, the shipment from the United States carrying 866,970 doses of Pfizer was transported via Air HongKong flight LD456 which landed on NAIA Terminal 3 around 9 p.m.
Dr. Maria Paz Corrales, medical consultant of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, said the Sinovac and Pfizer shots will be used in the planned nationwide immunization day dubbed as “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” from November 29 to December 1.
“From November 29 to December 1, we shall be holding the three-day ‘Bayanihan, Bakunahan’ which aims to vaccinate 15 million individuals,” Corrales said.
Aside from the two brands, the government will also utilize the vaccines in the stockpile including the Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Sputnik V.
Corrales noted that the NTF, the Department of Health (DOH), and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) have mobilized all other concerned national government agencies, local government units (LGUs), the medical community, religious groups and even the private sector to participate in the nationwide endeavor.
“We have also sought the help of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Office of Civil Defense, Department of Transportation, and the private sector to fast track our vaccine deliveries,” she stated.
The NTF consultant encouraged all unvaccinated individuals to take advantage of the National Vaccination Day and get themselves inoculated since the scheduled dates will be made holidays by the government to ensure the public’s availability.
“In the coming days, an executive order from Malacanang declaring Nov. 29, 30 and Dec. 1 as National Vaccination Days will be released. The guidelines for the said activities being prepared by the DOH,” said Corrales, a retired director of the DOH-National Capital Region (NCR).
“If we continue to ramp up our vaccination, our goal of inoculating 54 million fully vaccinated Filipinos can be achieved before the year ends,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, the recent deliveries further raised the total vaccine supply to 121,979,340 doses.
Of these, a total of 66,816,976 doses have been administered while 55,162,364 doses are in stockpile.
As of Wednesday, Nov. 10, a total of 36,338,077 individuals have received their first dose while 30,478,899 others have been fully vaccinated.
The fully vaccinated population represents 39.51 percent of the target 77 million eligible Filipinos that have to be vaccinated by year end to achieve herd immunity. The government aims to inoculate 50 to 80 percent of the eligible population.
Further, the government vaccinated 1,052,600 individuals on Wednesday, which meant that it has again reached its goal of inoculating one million people in a single day. The target if to vaccinated 1.5 million daily by the end of November.