Nearly entire vaccine supply already distributed

MANILA – More than 98 percent of the country’s vaccine supply has been distributed, with the few remaining doses serving as “buffer stocks”, Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Saturday.

The remaining supplies at DOH warehouses would serve as a buffer in case the initial batches downloaded to local government units (LGUs) would require additional doses, Vergeire said in a Laging Handa briefing.

She said the newly delivered one million doses from Sinovac and more than two million of Pfizer-BioNTech shots from the COVAX Facility would be deployed as soon as possible.

Vergeire said the shortage was noted in some areas due to delays in deliveries in May.

“Now that new stocks have arrived, their (LGUs) supplies will be replenished and they can start vaccinating again,” she said.

As of this posting, the country has so far received more than 12 million doses of coronavirus vaccines, both procured and donated.

The latest shipment contained 100,000 doses of government-procured Sputnik V vaccines from Russia that arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on Friday night.