Cebu City gets more Pfizer vaccines

More vaccines of different brands arrived in the country, with some sent to Cebu yesterday.

The country received another shipment of 1,014,390 doses of government-procured Pfizer vaccines.

Of the latest vaccine shipment, 813,150 doses were allocated for Metro Manila, while Cebu City and Davao City each received 100,620 doses.

This is expected to ramp up the vaccination of the youth sector.

In an interview following the arrival of the vaccines, National Task Force (NTF) chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. said more than 4,000 children have already received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines, with only four reported cases of minor adverse reaction.

“We’re very happy to report that the vaccination of children is very successful in the first week,” said Galvez.

Meanwhile, U.S. Embassy Chargé d’ Affaires Heather Variava said she had visited one of the hospitals in Metro Manila to witness the inoculation of children.

“We’re delighted that more is coming in the Philippines specifically because we’re vaccinating children ages 12 and above. I had the opportunity to visit a hospital in Manila today when I saw some of the children being vaccinated,” Variava said.

To date, 11,682,450 doses out of the 40 million doses of Pfizer vaccines purchased by the government from the US-based pharmaceutical firm have been delivered to the country.

Galvez together with Russian Ambassador Marat Pavlov also welcomed the arrival of 400,000 Sputnik V vaccine doses at the NAIA Terminal 3 in Pasay City last Thursday.

Of this latest shipment, 200,000 each will be allocated for the first and second dose, which will be used for the inoculation of the adult population.

Galvez thanked the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Ambassador Pavlov for the delivery and said the Philippine government is looking forward to the upcoming deliveries of Sputnik V vaccines.

According to the vaccine czar, the government is hoping that other COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers will also apply for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) with the Philippine Food and Drug Administration so their vaccines can be used to inoculate children.

Yesterday, NTF also reported the arrival of 698,600 doses of AstraZeneca procured by the private sector. —