MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines on Monday received one million more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine made by Sinovac Biotech, bringing the country’s supply of the vaccine brand to 12 million doses.
The Cebu Pacific flight carrying CoronaVac jabs arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport past 7 a.m.
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Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the newly-delivered shots will be distributed to areas experiencing surge in COVID-19 cases such as Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Davao region, Soccsksargen and Caraga.
He also stressed that the Sinovac vaccine is effective in preventing hospitalization and deaths as concerns over the brand’s effectiveness continue to grow.
The Chinese drugmaker has so far shipped 12 million CoronaVac doses to the country since February. Of the total, 10.1 million doses were procured by the national government, one million doses were donated by Beijing, and 900,000 doses were purchased by local government units and the private sector.
Hours before the arrival of additional CoronaVac jabs, the Philippines received its first ever supply of the coronavirus vaccine made by American pharmaceutical company Moderna. Almost 250,000 doses were delivered to the country.
Aside from jabs from Sinovac and Moderna, the country’s supply inventory also includes vaccines from AstraZeneca, Gamaleya Research Institute and Pfizer-BioNTech.
The government is expecting to administer the 10 millionth COVID-19 dose on Monday.