.5M more Sinovac jabs arrive
New shipment is part of government’s order of 1.5 million doses from Chinese manufacturer
A total of 500,000 doses of Chinamade Sinovac vaccine arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal (NAIA) 2 on Sunday.
The 500,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine are part of the 1.5 million doses purchased by the Philippine government from China.
Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said that at least two million doses of vaccines are expected to arrive this month, including the 1.5 million doses from Sinovac and 500,000 doses of Sputnik V from Russia’s Gamaleya.
Based on government statements, about 4.194 million doses will arrive in May, broken down as follows: Two million doses from Sinovac; two million doses from Gamaleya; and 194,000 doses from Moderna.
For June, at least 10.5 million doses are expected to arrive, including 4.5 million doses from Sinovac, four million doses from Gamaleya, one million doses from Novavax, and one million doses from AstraZeneca.
In the third quarter of 2021, at least 13.5 million doses of vaccine are expected to arrive in the country, including three million doses from Sinovac, four million doses from Gamaleya; one million doses from Moderna; two million doses from Novavax; 1.5 million doses from Janssen of Johnson and Johnson; and two million doses from AstraZeneca.
According to Galvez, at least 20 million doses of vaccines are expected to arrive in August and an additional 20 million doses of vaccines in September.
The government targets monthly delivery from October to December of 20 million doses of vaccines.
The country aims to secure 140 million doses of vaccine, excluding the supply from the COVAX Facility of the World Health Organization.
Over 1.5 million donated vaccine doses were earlier delivered to the Philippines, composed of one million doses China’s Sinovac, and 525,600 doses from Britain’s AstraZeneca, sourced from global vaccine-sharing pool COVAX Facility.
Based on the vaccine statistics, of the 2,525,600 doses of vaccines received by the government, 11,936,600 or 77 percent were already distributed in 2,670 vaccination sites.