BOC assures quick release of Covid-19 vax shipments

MANILA – The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is ready to facilitate the immediate release of vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) once its shipments arrive in the country.

“Yes. Ports have already activated one-stop shops to handle vaccine shipments. We will use pre-arrival clearance procedures for covid vaccine shipments so that they can be expeditiously released upon arrival at the airport,” Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero said in a text message on Wednesday.

Guerrero, however, said they have no information at the moment as to the exact date of the arrival of these shipments in the country.

On Tuesday, the government headed by health officials and other stakeholders in the fight against the virus held a simulation activity in preparation for the arrival of the vaccines slated this month.

“It went very well. Customs clearance was very fast as the shipment was already processed prior to its arrival,” Guerrero added.

He said BOC personnel will only process the documents for the release of the cargoes and are not authorized to physically handle the vaccines.

On Monday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the first batch of the vaccines that will be coming from drugmakers Pfizer-BioNtech and AstraZeneca under the sealed agreement with the COVAX Facility would arrive in mid-February.