By Priam Nepomuceno / Philippine News Agency
The government has set aside a portion of the latest shipments of American-made COVID-19 vaccine for the inoculation of minors.
“Yes, nakapaglagay na tayo ng buffer, we already allocated a buffer and the same time, this coming next week na meron pa din dadating na Pfizer, so ayun ‘yung mga gagamitin natin, ‘yung mga dadating na bago,” National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. said in an interview during the arrival of the 797,940 doses of government-procured Pfizer vaccine at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on Thursday night (Oct. 7).
The 797,940 doses of Pfizer vaccine arrived via Air Hongkong Flight LD-456 around 8:45 p.m.
Another 141,570 doses were earlier delivered to Cebu while some 64,350 doses are scheduled for delivery to Davao on Friday, totaling 1,003,860 doses.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier approved the use of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for adolescents, allowing these to be administered to those aged 12 to 17.
The inoculation of minors will be piloted in eight identified hospitals in the National Capital Region (NCR) starting Oct. 15.
Included in the list are:
Fe Del Mundo Medical Center
Makati Medical Center
National Children’s Hospital
Pasig City Children’s Hospital
Philippine Children’s Medical Center
Philippine General Hospital
Philippine Heart Center
St. Luke’s Hospital-BGC
Galvez also said the latest shipment of Pfizer jabs will be given to major cities and in Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Western Visayas, and some areas in Northern Mindanao.
He also thanked the U.S. government and Pfizer “for being faithful in deliveries.”
Galvez also said Thursday’s deliveries are among the biggest for this week, which now have reached more than 10 million.
“Ito ay isa sa pinakamalaking shipment natin for this week, nagkaroon tayo ng more than 10 million, so averaging na tayo ng 1.4 million per day,” he added.
Galvez said also this is the second day that the country has received a shipment of more than 500,000 vaccines.
“We have an average now of more or less 500,000 to 600,000 jabs per day. [Two] days ago, we have again rebounded to 628,200 per day,” he added.
Meanwhile, U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires ad interim Heather Variava, who was present at Thursday’s Pfizer delivery, said they are very happy that more of these life-saving jabs are arriving in the Philippines.
“We in the United States believe Pfizer is one of the best, safest, and most effective vaccines. We are really happy that there’s more coming in the Philippines to help protect the people from (COVID-19),” she added. (PNA) – jlo
