Seventy-five thousand doses of Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine were donated by the Qatari government and Chinese vaccine manufacturer Sinovac Biotech to the Philippines on Wednesday, April 13.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. received the vaccine donations at the Terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) with Qatar Ambassador to the Philippines Ali Ibrahim Al-Malki, representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Health (DOH), and Office of the Special Envoy to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
“We would like to thank the Qatari government for this donation of Sinovac vaccine,” he said.
Out of the total donations, Qatar gave 50,000 doses while Sinovac provided 25,000 doses.
“This is very important for us considering that President has ordered the BARMM government to push up for the coverage of their vaccination,” Galvez disclosed.
Duterte had ordered local chief executives of the BARMM government to ramp up their vaccination efforts since only 20 percent of their target population have been fully vaccinated so far.
Galvez said this was worrisome since BARMM would suffer if a new surge of cases hit the country if only a small portion of their population is protected from the contagion.
Meanwhile, Al-Malki said that Qatar will continue to assist the Philippines in its endeavors to curb the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The Philippines is an important country for us and it’s our friend. Quatar supports our friends,” Al-Malki said.