3.01M doses of Sinovac, Sputnik vax arrive Tuesday

MANILA – The Philippines received more than three million doses of procured Sinovac and Sputnik V vaccines Tuesday night, further ramping up the supply as cases fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) rise.

At about 6 p.m., three million doses of the China-made Sinovac vaccine arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 on board Philippine Airlines flight PR359, while 15,000 doses of Sputnik V (Component 2) arrived at Terminal 3 at about 11 p.m. aboard Qatar Airlines flight QR928.

National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., who was present during the arrival of the Sinovac vaccine, said following President Rodrigo Duterte’s directives, the latest shipment would be allotted to areas with high Covid-19 cases.

“Ibibigay (i)to sa Region(s) 4-A, 3, ‘yung mga regions na may surge sa ngayon – Region 7, Region 3, Region 6. I believe ‘yung mga delivery na darating sa September ay sa probinsya. I believe sa NCR, ibibigay natin second dose (This will be given to regions 4-A [Calabarzon], 3 [Central Luzon], 7 [Central Visayas], and 6 [Western Visayas] or regions that are experiencing a surge. The delivery in September will be for provinces and for second doses in the National Capital Region),” Galvez told reporters.

The latest vaccine deliveries bring to 51,900,590 the total number of vaccine doses delivered to the country since February.

More than 31.3 million doses of the country’s total vaccine supply are government-procured.

Data from the NTF show that as of August 30, the country has administered a total of 33,306,355 doses nationwide, with 19.4 million doses given as first shot. More than 13.8 million people are now fully vaccinated.

In the NCR, 45.16 percent of the region’s 9.77 million target population are fully vaccinated.

Other regions, however, still have to catch up with the NCR’s inoculation rate, as less than 22 percent of their respective target populations are fully vaccinated.

Galvez reiterated that “all vaccines work against severe infection and hospitalization.”

He also appealed to the public to get the vaccine as soon as it is available in their areas.