1.5 million Sinovac jabs beef up PH supply

MANILA – A total of 1.5 million doses of government-procured Sinovac vaccines from China will augment the country’s supply after arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 via a Cebu Pacific flight on Friday.

Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the delivery will mean 750,000 more individuals will be protected against Covid-19.

“Pinag-uusapan natin dito mga (We are talking here of) 750,000 lives that we can protect against severe Covid-19 infection thereby preventing hospitalization and deaths,” Duque said in an interview.

National Task Force Against Covid-19 Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said more vaccines are arriving in the coming days, including a guaranteed 500,000 more doses of Sinovac.

“Next month, 4.5 million na Sinovac ang tatanggapin natin so ang ibig sabihin talagang tumataas na ang volume natin at natutuwa kami (Next month, we will receive 4.5 million more of Sinovac so this means that the volume is increasing and we are happy),” Galvez said.

On Saturday, two million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines will be delivered from the COVAX facility while on May 11, Galvez assured the first delivery of US-made Pfizer vaccines, totaling 193,000 doses.

“’Yung AstraZaneca mapupunta yan sa mga priority areas at more or less ang 800,000 ay pupunta sa Metro Manila (AstraZeneca will go to the priority areas and about 800,000 doses will be given to Metro Manila),” he said.

Within this month, Galvez added that seven million doses of different brands will be delivered, including the next batch of Sputnik V vaccines by the third week, and another 10 million in June.

Vaccination will next include the A4 category (front-liners in essential sectors, including uniformed personnel) once supplies are steady.