1 million more Sinovac doses arrive in PH
Another one million vaccine doses from the Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech arrived in the Philippines on Sunday morning.
The plane carrying the shipment landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 at 7:36 a.m., with National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III welcoming the arrival.
The new batch is in addition to the 6.5 million Coronavac doses which were earlier delivered to the country. It is seen to help fast-track the national immunization drive, as the government targets to start the inoculation of the priority group A4 or frontline personnel in essential workers this month.
Sinovac recently secured emergency use authorization of its vaccine from the World Health Organization, making it the second Chinese manufacturer to be given the green light by WHO after Sinopharm was approved in early May. This development is seen by Malacañang to help increase Filipino’s confidence in China-made vaccines.
Government data as of June 2 show over 5.3 million doses have been administered nationwide to around 4.08 million people, including nearly 1.3 million who have already received their second shot.
The country is also set to receive this month 2.2 million more doses from the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer.
