AstraZeneca vaccines arrive
COVAX facility also commits to deliver Pfizer vaccines – WHO official
The first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX facility has finally arrived in the country Thursday night (March 4), bringing the total number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines that the Philippines has to 1,087,200.
The plane carrying the 487,200 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 at 7:10 p.m. on March 4 from Belgium, aboard flight KLM 803 which passed by Bangkok, Thailand, before landing in Manila.
The vaccines were developed in South Korea and have been donated by the following countries: Germany, European Union, Norway, France, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, and Greece.
The vaccines were transported to Metropac in Marikina. Distribution of the vaccines will immediately commence after repackaging.
The COVAX facility, which
the Philippines joined, is a mechanism led by the World Health Organization (WHO) that is designed to guarantee rapid, fair, and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.
“Today marks the first delivery of vaccines from the COVAX facility to the Philippines,” said WHO Representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe in a press briefing hosted by the Department of Health (DOH) earlier Thursday. He said the COVAX facility has also committed to send vaccines developed by American drugmaker Pfizer.
“And in addition to that, we will also be receiving 117,000 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. Plus, the additional quantities of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines that will be allocated will be known before the end of this month,” he added.
The delivery of the initial doses of AstraZeneca vaccines were supposed to arrive last Monday, March 1 but was delayed because of logistical concerns.
“So we had some initial problems with setting up the mechanisms and the deliveries. We are happy to note that the Philippines is receiving one of the largest consignment of COVAX vaccines. In this first initial consignment... (there are) 487,000 doses,” he said.
As the Philippines is expected to increase its number of vaccines against the viral illness, Abeyasinghe reminded the public to still adhere to the minimum public health standards.
“We need to continue to work. We are stronger than before because we have the vaccine in our arsenal,” said the WHO official.
Abeyasinghe emphasized that the arrival of vaccines does not give us the opportunity to drop the behaviors we adopted from the beginning of the pandemic, namely the physical distancing, face mask wearing, hand washing, cough etiquette, and avoiding congested and closed settings.
Meanwhile, the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) is set to release a finalized priority list for this batch of vaccines soon. (With a report from Analou C. de Vera)