Continuous arrival of more Covid-19 vaccine doses assured

MANILA – Malacañang on Wednesday assured that there would be a continuous arrival of more Sinovac-made Covid-19 vaccine doses this month.

On Monday, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said 1 million more doses of Covid-19 vaccines developed by China’s Sinovac will arrive this March under a PHP700-million purchase deal.

This is expected to boost the country’s initial stock of 600,000 doses of the same brand donated by Beijing.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque expressed optimism that the Sinovac-made vaccines will arrive as scheduled.

“Tuluy-tuloy na po iyan dahil may inaasahan po tayong isang milyon galing po sa Sinovac, ito na po iyong bibilhin natin (The arrival is continuous because we expect 1 million from Sinovac, this is what we’re going to purchase),” he said in a radio interview.

He is also hopeful that the United Kingdom’s AstraZeneca vaccines, which were supposed to arrive last Monday (March 1), would finally not encounter any more delays.

“Iyong COVAX Facility ay inaasahan po natin na mayroon pa tayong 500,000 plus so sigurado po iyan darating ng Marso (We expect to have 500,000 plus vaccine doses through the COVAX Facility which is scheduled to arrive this March),” he said.

The country was supposed to receive some 525,600 doses AstraZeneca vaccines under COVAX Facility, a World Health Organization (WHO)-led mechanism to ensure fair vaccine access, especially for low to middle-income countries.

“So sa tingin ko po hindi na maaantala ito at pagdating po ng Abril eh diyan naman po sisipa iyong marami rin nating nabili rin ‘no (So I think there won’t be any more delays and in April that’s when the bulk of the vaccine doses we purchased will come in),” he said.

Galvez earlier said there is no definite date yet for arrival of AstraZeneca vaccines due to global shortage of vaccines.

Meanwhile, Roque expressed confidence that the country’s front line medical workers would finish their vaccination as scheduled so that the rest of the groups in the government’s priority list could follow.

“Kampante po ang gobyerno na tuloy-tuloy na po ito at sa lalong mabilis na panahon sana matapos po natin ang mga health workers, 3.4 million po iyan. Pagkatapos po sana ay mayroon na tayong makuha para sa mga seniors dahil iyon na po ang ating susunod na target ng ating vaccination (The government is confident that this will be continuous and finish vaccinating our 3.4 million health workers. After them, I hope we have enough for senior citizens because they are the second priority in our vaccination),” he added.