By Alec Go
The Philippines received today (Aug. 20) around 739,200 Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine doses as part of the one million dose donation of the Chinese government to the country.
The latest shipment arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal II in Pasay City via Philippine Airlines (PAL) chartered flight PR 359 on Friday afternoon.
The arrival was witnessed virtually by President Rodrigo Duterte, other cabinet officials, and Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian.
In his speech, the Chinese envoy said the donation of one million Sinopharm vaccines was amid the country’s urgent need of supplies amid the resurgence of cases due to emerging variants.
“The total number of China’s vaccines delivered to the Philippines is expected to reach nearly 30 million doses by the end of this month. We sincerely hope these vaccines would alleviate the shortage of vaccines and save more lives,” he said.
Duterte welcomed in his speech the new set of donations, including COVID-19 assistance that has been made in the past.
“These additional doses will definitely boost our efforts to ramp up our vaccination rollout, and allow us to achieve herd immunity soon,” he said.
He also requested the ambassador to “convey to Pres. Xi Jinping [his] deepest gratitude, and many, many thanks for China’s attitude” toward the country.
“Even in these challenging times of geopolitics, the Philippines will stay neutral and remain true to what we have guaranteed China at least during my term,” he said.
The Sinopharm delivery is the second shipment of vaccines today, following the arrival of more than 582,000 AstraZeneca doses procured by local government units and the private sector.
More than 22 million doses are expected to be delivered to the country within this month. – rir
