Around 6 million doses of COVD-19 vaccines arriving this week
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is set to receive roughly six million more doses of vaccines against COVID-19 this week, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said.
In their weekly report to President Rodrigo Duterte, Galvez said they are expecting the arrival of four million doses of Sinovac, one million doses of donated Sinopharm vaccines, around 400,000 to 500,000 Moderna vaccines and 500,000 AstraZeneca doses.
Galvez said the AstraZeneca doses are due to arrive on Friday.
He added that they are coordinating with the US Embassy for the advanced delivery of purchased Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines.
Addressing the president, Galvez said in Filipino: “I talked to them yesterday (Sunday) and I asked help if there can be an advanced delivery of these products because if they can be [delivered in advance] it will be of great help to accelerate our vaccination.”
He also acknowledged that data showed that vaccination slowed down of late as local government units redirected manpower to giving financial aid to residents affected by stringent protocols and lockdowns in the National Capital Region and other areas.
The government is looking to ramp up vaccination as Metro Manila and other high-risk localities revert to Enhanced Community Quarantine status amid an increase in daily COVID-19 cases and the risk of the more infectious Delta variant.
The vaccination rate for the country remains in the low double digits. As of August 15, the government has administered 27,806,881 doses.
He said 18,697,647 have been fully vaccinated while 6,132,630 received their first jabs.
The National Task Force against COVID-19 added that 12,565,017 are deemed to have gotten complete protection of the vaccines.
Galvez said this means that 17.73% of the eligible population and 11.4% of the total population have now been fully vaccinated and protected against coronavirus.
Citing information from Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chair Benhur Abalos Jr., Galvez said mayors in the National Capital Region reported that they reached an average of 230,000 jabs per day.
“Their vaccination reached 6,354,901 or 66% already received the first dose of their population target of nine million. While 4,054,275 or 42.21% already received full doses,” he added. — Kristine Joy Patag
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