Around 3.6 million doses of Moderna and AstraZeneca coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines were transported to the country on Friday morning, Dec. 10.
The cargoes carrying 2,948,000 Moderna and 698,600 AstraZeneca shots were flown to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 around 9:30 a.m. onboard China Airlines flight CI701.
Dr.Ted Herbosa, special adviser of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, said about 2,102,000 doses of the Moderna supplies were bought by the government while 846,000 doses were procured by the private sector.
Meanwhile, the AstraZeneca shots were part of the total 935,800 doses that were bought by the private sector and local government units. The initial 255,200 doses were brought in on Thursday.
Herbosa said the vaccines will be used in the second round of the “Bayanihan Bakunahan” National Vaccination Days from Dec. 15 to 17 where around seven million individuals are targeted to be inoculated.
“We have two brands that arrived at the same time today. We’re very happy that we can use this for the Bayanihan Bakunahan 2. Our hope is to really achieve national herd immunity threshold,” Herbosa told reporters at the airport.
To achieve herd immunity, the government aims to fully vaccinate around 54 million to 77 million Filipinos.
So far, a total of 39.56 million individuals have been fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, 54.03 million have received their first dose while 643,370 others have been given their boosters shots.
Herbosa hopes that many Filipinos will again participate in the Bayanihan Bakunahan campaign even as he assured that the necessary ancillary supplies, such as syringes, were already secured by the government to avoid shortage.
“Nakita ko marami ang natakot sa Omicron (I have seen that many people got afraid of Omicron). The threat of Omicron is real. Nakita niyo naman ang increase ng (You have seen the increase of) Omicron in South Africa, almost everyday nagdo-double ang numbers nila (their numbers are doubled almost everyday) and they’ve reached 24 percent test positivity which is our test positivity at the height of Delta,” he said.
Herbosa said all individuals who will go to the vaccination sites during the second wave of the national immunization drive will be accommodated.
“Alam ko pwede lahat magwalk-in. Ang instruction sa amin sa NVOC, i-register sila. May area for walk-ins, may areas for booster, second shot, and first shot kasi ito ang priority. Walang pauuwiin during the National Vaccination Days na hindi nababakunahan (I think walk-ins are allowed. The instruction to us in the is to have registered. There will be areas for walk-ins, booster shots, second shot, and first shot which is the priority. We will not send home anybody who is not vaccinated during the National Vaccination Days),” he said.
“You can see the effects of good vaccination campaign in NCR . Our numbers have remained steady, very low. I think we can celebrate Christmas,” he added.
Meanwhile, Janette Jakosalem, marketing manager of Zuellig Pharma which stores the vaccines, said various brands have already been studying about the effects of their vaccines against the new Omicron variant.
“As we speak, Moderna is conducting studies to assess the impact of booster shots on Omicron. Today, it’s half a dose, potentially they are increasing it more to address the Omicron virus,” she said.
With the recent deliveries, the country has already received a total of 155,071,570 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.