Following recent reports that the National COVID-19 Vaccination Program using COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese Government are set to begin on 1 March 2021, the Department of Health (DOH) and the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) jointly clarify that as of press time, specific details as to the allocation and subsequent rollout of the 600,000 donated SINOVAC doses are still being evaluated pending the official recommendation of the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) and its approval by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
The DOH and NTF confirm that the donated vaccines are scheduled to arrive within the next couple of days, with the arrival ceremony to be held at Villamor Airbase in Pasay City. However, details of the planned arrival ceremony are still currently being finalized in close coordination with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China.
(DOH-PR)
