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PH welcomes 1.5M Sinovac doses
MANILA – A total of 1.5 million doses of government procured Sinovac vaccine arrived on Thursday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 via Cebu Pacific flight 5J671.
One million more will arrive Friday, July 30.
Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary for Procurement and Supply Chain Management Carolina Vidal-Taino said three million doses of Moderna vaccine and one million doses of Sinopharm are also set for delivery within the week.
The donation from the United Kingdom of 415,000 doses of AstraZeneca is expected on August 2, she said.
“Natutuwa kami at meron na namang dumating na Sinovac, 1.5 ‘yan ngayon. Bukas meron pa rin tayong aasahan na another one million so a total of 2.5 (We are happy that new set of Sinovac vaccine arrived today, that’s 1.5. Tomorrow we are expecting another one million, so a total of 2.5),” Taino said in an interview.
Once the Sinovac vaccine is issued a Certificate of Analysis in two to three days, the doses will be delivered to local government units.
“Itong 1.5 M, ang bulk nito ay (mapupunta) sa NCR (National Capital Region) Plus 8, ‘tsaka yung may mga surge ngayon (This 1.5, the bulk of this will go to the NCR Plus 8 and other areas where there is a surge),” Taino said.
The Plus 8 is composed of Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Bulacan, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, and Rizal.
Undersecretary Isidro Purisima of the National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 said the government is gearing up for a possible surge of Covid-19 cases due to the more transmissible Delta variant.
The NTF and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) have prepared contingency measures.
“Kailangang kailangan natin itong ating mga vaccines natin na to at ‘yung ating National Task Force at ‘yung IATF natin ay meron ng mga contingency measures. Isa ‘yung vaccination natin para ma-preempt natin ‘yung pag-spread ng virus (We badly need these vaccines and the NTF with the IATF have already prepared contingency measures. One is the vaccination to preempt the spread of the virus),” Purisima said.
