600K doses of Sinovac vaccine to arrive on Feb. 23

MANILA – Malacañang on Thursday announced that a total of 600,000 doses of vaccines developed by Chinese drugmaker Sinovac Biotech are set to arrive in the country on Feb. 23.

In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that of the figure, 100,000 doses will be donated to the Department of National Defense (DND).

“Ang bakuna na Sinovac na galing sa China, nakaukit na sa bato ang pagdating, ito ay sa 23 ng Pebrero (The Sinovac vaccines from China are already scheduled to arrive on Feb. 23),” he said.

Uniformed personnel fall under the “A4” category in the government’s Covid-19 vaccine priority list.

“Sa 23 ng Pebrero darating ang Sinovac, 600,000, pero 100,000 po ay donasyon ng Tsina para sa kasundaluhan sa Department of National Defense (On Feb. 23, 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine will arrive, 100,000 of which is a donation from Chinese government to the DND),” he added.

Sinovac has yet to be issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration of the Philippines.