500-M doses of Sinovac ferried by PAL Sunday

HALF a million doses of Sinovac vaccine from China arrived in Manila on Sunday afternoon, as health authorities scramble to arrest a surge in Covid-19 cases.

The Sinovac was ferried by Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight PR 361, commercial flight, touching down at 5:15 p.m.

Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. and Secretary Vince Dizon, National Task Force (NTF) Deputy implementor, welcomed the arrival of the vaccines.

The latest shipment is part of the 25 million doses purchased by the Philippines from Chinese vaccine manufacturer Sinovac.

This is the second batch of Sinovac vaccines purchased by the government which arrived in Manila, or a total 1.5 million doses distributed across different hospitals in the country.

The airport customs bureau on Sunday cleared in just 15 minutes the half million doses consigned to the Department of Health (DOH), in an effort to meet the cold-chain requirement for vaccine transport and storage.

On April 9, 2021, the Sinovac vaccine underwent a simulated, pre-arrival clearance process through the Naia One-stop-shop and were cleared for release within 15 minutes.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has so far cleared and released over 3.02 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines imported by the DOH.

Upon arrival, the Sinovac shipment was immediately transported to the Metropac facility where the other vaccines are stored to ensure their integrity and safety prior to distribution across the nation.

Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero vowed the BOC’S continuing commitment to support the Covid-19 vaccination program by ensuring quick processing of legitimately imported vaccines while protecting the country’s border against all fraudulent attempts to import unregistered vaccines and related medical goods.

District Collector Mimel M. Talusan stressed that amid continuing threats of Covid-19 infection, “active coordination and cooperation with concerned government agencies are continuously undertaken to further streamline and improve clearance processes of the Covid-19 vaccines and related medical goods.”