Vaccine deliveries in the country continue to arrive in bigger batches from various manufacturers, National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. said Saturday (Nov. 27).
As of Nov. 27, the Philippines has received a total of 141,606,240 COVID-19 doses since February.
This includes the 5,225,200 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines donated by the UK government through the COVAX facility, which arrived in three separate tranches this week.
The figure also includes the 1,219,140 doses of Pfizer vaccines procured by the national government, which arrived on Friday and Saturday.
“We thank our bilateral and multilateral partners for giving us greater and more equitable access to these life-saving doses, in time for our National Vaccination Days,” Galvez said.
“These supplies will not only help us provide greater protection to our people, but also enable us to continue to bring down [the number of] active COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths caused by the virus,” he added.
The Philippines also recently signed an amended supply agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech SE for the procurement of an additional 20 million doses, which is on top of the previous 40 million doses purchased by the government from the U.S.-based vaccine manufacturer.
With this development, the Philippines has secured a total of 217.34 million vaccine doses, up from the previous 197.34 million guaranteed doses that are scheduled to be shipped to the country.
The additional Pfizer vaccines will be used as booster shots and primary series for minors, which are subject to the Food and Drug Administration’s approval and recommendation. (NTF) – jlo
