2nd AstraZeneca batch to boost vaccination during ECQ

MANILA, Philippines — The private sector yesterday welcomed 575,800 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines it purchased through “A Dose of Hope” program, made possible by the tripartite agreement signed with the national government and AstraZeneca.

The AstraZeneca vaccines arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on a China Airlines flight via Taipei. The jabs were immediately transported to the PharmaServ Express cold storage in Marikina City.

Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion, along with National Task Force against COVID-19 (NTF) chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. and AstraZeneca country president Lotis Ramin, welcomed the delivery.

“The arrival of the second batch this August of AstraZeneca vaccines totaling 1.15 million doses procured by the private sector is very timely, as we are aggressively rolling out vaccination efforts to help prevent the transmission of the Delta variant,” presidential adviser for entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion said.

“This month of August, that would be 1.15 (million) doses. So this is about 50 percent of that (ordered doses) arrived today. Maybe, the rest will arrive end of next week,” Concepcion added.

Vaccination support

With the arrival of more vaccines, Concepcion said the private sector could better support the intensified vaccination efforts during the ongoing enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila.

“We need a fast and almost perfect rollout and the private sector, with the arrival of these vaccine doses from AstraZeneca, can now do that for its employees,” Concepcion said.

This latest shipment brings the total number of AstraZeneca doses delivered to the Philippines to 7,849,740. Of this number, 1,124,100 doses were donated by the Japanese government, 4,584,000 jabs came from the COVAX Facility and 415,040 shots given by the UK government.

Another shipment of 15,000 Sputnik V doses also arrived yesterday from Russia via Qatar aboard Qatar Airways. On Sunday, some 469,200 Moderna doses are also expected to arrive at NAIA Terminal 3 aboard Singapore Airlines from the COVAX Facility in Belgium.

Meanwhile, the NTF said that so far, the country has already received 41,515,350 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from several manufacturers. Of this number, 26,677,269 doses have been administered nationwide, including over 14 million first doses.

“This milestone is the result of the collective efforts of our LGUs, our private sector partners and our health care workers. They always find ways to ensure that they will deliver on their promises,” Galvez said. – Jose Rodel Clapano, Rudy Santos