MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines received Wednesday the second batch of COVID-19 shots donated by China, giving the country additional vaccine supplies needed to inoculate the priority populations.
An additional 400,000 doses of CoronaVac, the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese drugmaker Sinovac Biotech, arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Wednesday morning.
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The shipment is in addition to the initial 600,000 doses that arrived last February 28.
In a joint statement, the Department of Health and the National Task Force against COVID-19 said the arrival of the additional CoronaVac doses will be “instrumental” in the government’s vaccination program as the country battles another surge in infections.
“The arrival of these vaccines could not have occurred at a more opportune time considering the continued rise in cases, which in turn increases the need to inoculate more high risk individuals as soon as possible,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said.
Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian, who welcomed the vaccines at NAIA, said he is hoping the shipment “will contribute to speed up the mass vaccination in the country so that we will win over the war against the virus and recover the economy.”
The country’s inoculation program started on March 1 with the doses donated by China. It also received initial 526,000 doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca through the COVAX Facility.
Given the limited supply, only frontline healthcare workers are prioritized to get vaccinated at the moment. But a number people not in the priority list, including mayors, have jumped the vaccination line.
Some 336,656 Filipinos have been vaccinated against COVID-19 as of March 20.
The country is expected to receive one million CoronaVac doses—its first purchase—by the end of the month. Additional 979,200 doses of AstraZeneca jabs are also seen to arrive in the country by end-March.
The government aims to inoculate between 50 and 70 million Filipinos this year alone.