MANILA, Philippines — A shipment of 582,500 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine procured by private firms arrived in the Philippines on Friday.
The shots landed this morning at Terminal 1 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport aboard China Airlines flight CI 701, as shown on a live stream by state media.
This is the latest shipment in partial fulfillment of the 2.6 million doses purchased by private firms through a tripartite agreement with AstraZeneca and the Philippine government inked in November 2020.
Since the government launched its inoculation campaign in March, it has fully vaccinated 12.88 million Filipinos or 11.81% of the country's total 109 million population. Some 16.25 million or 14.9% of Filipinos have received a first dose of the vaccine according to data as of August 18.
Officials are racing to fully vaccinate at least 50 to 60 million people by yearend, a goal already downgraded from their previous target of vaccinating 70 million Filipinos to attain herd immunity before the year is out. — Bella Perez-Rubio