Philippines receives 500K more Sinovac doses
MANILA, Philippines — Another half a million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese drugmaker Sinovac Biotech arrived in the Philippines Thursday.
The shipment landed at Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 7:05 a.m. through a Cebu Pacific flight.
The latest delivery was part of the 25 million CoronaVac doses procured by the Philippines. So far, the country has received 3.5 million doses of CoronaVac, of which one million shots were donated by the Chinese government.
Last month, the country also received 525,600 doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca through COVAX Facility. Deliveries of additional AstraZeneca jabs are expected to be delayed.
The delivery of the initial 15,000 doses of the Russia-made COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V was delayed due to logistical challenges, in a setback for the country’s already slow vaccine rollout.
Since the start of the vaccination program in March, 1.8 million vaccine doses have been administered. Of the total, only 246,801 people have been fully vaccinated, while 1.5 million have received their first dose.
Only healthcare workers, senior citizens and people with comorbidities are being vaccinated at the moment due to the limited supply of jabs.
The government’s target is to inoculate up to 70 million people this year.
In a televised speech Thursday, President Rodrigo Duterte said the Philippines owes China a huge debt, including the supply of COVID-19 vaccines. But the chief executive said he cannot compromise on some matters such as those related to sovereignty.
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