By Lade Jean Kabagani/PNA
MANILA – Delay in the production of the Sinovac vaccine may slightly derail the delivery of the China-made jabs to the Philippines this month.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, assured though that it won’t affect the country’s vaccination program.
The initial 2.5 million doses out of the expected 6 million will be delivered within the third week of July.
“Rest assured that despite the two-week delay in the delivery of these Sinovac doses, our vaccine rollout will not be affected and will proceed nationwide. We should also understand that Sinovac also exhausted its supply for us,” Galvez assured.
The Sinovac company has already delivered 6.5 million doses, more than the contracted supply of 4.5 million doses, in June alone.
Galvez likewise told local government units (LGUs) to make sure those who received their first shots will be able to complete the full dose.
“With this development, we advise all LGUs who have Sinovac vaccines in their inventory to ensure that the allocation for the second dose should be used as the second dose,” Galvez said of the jabs administered 28 days apart.
The government contracted 26 million of Sinovac doses this year.
“We ask for the patience and understanding of the public. Though we have already secured the volume needed by the country, there are still other factors that may delay production and deliveries and cause this slippage,” he said.
So far, the Philippines has 12 million doses of Sinovac jabs in its stockpile, including the 1 million doses donated by the Chinese government and the 900,000 doses procured by the private sector and LGUs. (PNA) -rir
