By Pearl Gumapos
More than 1.3 million doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines arrived in the Philippines Saturday afternoon (Oct. 9) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1.
The shipment, which carried a total of 1,363,300 doses of Moderna, arrived onboard China Airlines flight CI703.
885,700 of the delivered jabs were government-procured, while the remaining 477,600 were purchased by the private sector.
Currently, more than 9.9 million Moderna vaccines have been delivered to the Philippines.
The latest delivery from Moderna hikes up the number of vaccine doses delivered to the Philippines since February to 85,575,600.
National Task Force (NTF) chief implementer and vaccine czar Sec. Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. said that with the arrival of vaccines, local leaders and regional directors are called upon to set aside political differences and instead focus on the national government’s efforts to inoculate as many people as possible.
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Galvez also said there is no longer an issue regarding vaccine supply.
“Ako po ay nananawagan sa lahat ng local units, kasama rin po ang DILG, ang ating military, ang ating mga mayor and governors at ating mga kapulisan, para paghusayin natin ang pagbabakuna,” Galvez said. -PG – bny