5.5 million Pfizer doses arriving in coming days, says US embassy official
(Eagle News) Some 2.5 million doses of government-procured Sinovac vaccines and 883,500 Pfizer doses arrived in the country on Friday, Oct. 1, further boosting vaccine supplies.
The delivery of over 3.38 million doses of vaccines on Friday brought to 74.7 million doses the total COVID vaccines delivered to the country.
The 2.5 million Sinovac doses arrived shortly before 6 p.m. at Ninoy Aquno International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 via Philippine Airlines flight PR359.
The Pfizer doses arrived earlier at past 4 p.m. at the NAIA Terminal 2 via Emirates flight EK332.
“I’m absolutely delighted to be back here at the airport with another delivery of Pfizer vaccines from the United States through the Covax facility over the course of the next couple of days, you will see 5.5 million more doses arrive in the Philppines,” said US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Heather Variava in an interview.
She said that the next Pfizer doses will be delivered to Manila and the cities of Cebu and Davao.
“So the United States is really happy to be able to provide support not just to Metro Manila but to the greater Philippines, and Cebu and Davao.”
She said that this will enable some 2 million individuals to be fully vaccinated against Covid.
Shortly before 6 p.m., Philippine authorities also welcomed a total of 2.5 million doses of Sinovac vaccines at the NAIA Terminal 2 flown via Philippine Airlines flight PR359.
-Target to reach 100 million vaccine doses by end of the month-
Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., said the government expects the total vaccine deliveries in the country to reach 100 million by October.
So far, at least 29 million vaccine doses have already been reserved for children or adolescents aged 12 to 17.
The inoculation of children 12 years old and above will start by mid-October, to start with those with comorbidities and children of health frontliners.
The vaccination of the general population will also start this month, but the elderly and those with comorbidities will continue to be prioritized.
Rabindra Abeyasinghe, World Health Organization (WHO) country representative, also gave the assurance that the Philippines will continue to receive a steady supply of vaccines from the COVAX facility.
“COVAX and WHO are very happy in facilitating the deliveries, as we already mentioned we are looking at 10 million Pfizer doses coming,” Rabindra said.
This is the first shipment for this weekend. We look forward to increasing more deliveries over the next couple of weeks,” he added referring to the Pfizer doses.
An additional 889,200 Pfizer doses will arrive on Saturday, October 2, while over 1.2 million doses of the US-made vaccine will arrive on Sunday, October 3.
Galvez Jr. thanked the WHO, COVAX, the US government, and UNICEF for ensuring the steady delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to the country.
The vaccine czar said said this newest batch of vaccines will be deployed to priority areas, particularly to Regions 4-A, 3, 7, and 11
(Eagle News Service)