A TOP government official, who is taking the lead in the country’s fight versus COVID-19, said that almost 14 million COVID-19 vaccine doses are expected to arrive in the Philippines by the second quarter of this year.
He said the country was able to secure said amount of vaccine doses from four different vaccine makers.
“The global supply is limited but the government is doing its best to ensure that the country will have a fair share of the vaccines. The instruction of President Rodrigo Duterte is for Filipinos to be vaccinated and save more lives as we collectively surmount the challenges brought about by the pandemic,” Chief Implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, and vaccine czar, Sec. Carlito Galvez said.
Galvez said the delivery of 1.5 million doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccines are expected to be completed within the month of April, with 500,000 doses to be delivered on April 22, and another 500,000 on April 29.
Sinovac had already shipped out 500, 000 doses last April 11. These are on top of the 2 million doses that the Chinese vaccine maker had delivered to the country last February and March.
Galvez said an initial 20,000 doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccines are also expected to arrive this week, with a second tranche of 480,000 doses to be delivered before the end of this month.
A shipment of 195,000 Pfizer vaccine doses is also expected by the government to be delivered either by the end of April or early May, according to Galvez.
There is also a possibility that AstraZeneca vaccines coming from the COVAX facility will also arrive within the month, adds the vaccine czar.
For May, Galvez said the government expects at least 2 million doses of Sinovac vaccines to be delivered to the country, along with 1 to 2 million of Sputnik V doses, and 194,000 vaccine doses from Moderna.
He said the government is also working with the World Health Organization (WHO), the GAVI Alliance, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for the possible delivery of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines under the COVAX facility.
Galvez said the government expects to receive 7 to 8 million vaccine doses in June. These include 4.5 million doses of Sinovac, 2 million doses of Sputnik V, and 1.3 million doses of AsrtraZeneca.
“With the arrival of these vaccines, we will continue our aggressive vaccine roll-out in the county to protect the Filipino from COVID-19,” Galvez said.
As of April 18, a total of 1,477,757 vaccine doses have been administered in the country. Currently, only medical fronliners, senior citizens, and persons with comorbidities are being inoculated.
Starting mid May or June, the government will allow the inoculation of other essential workers.
The Philippines ranks third among countries in ASEAN in the number of citizens that have been vaccinated, while the country has placed 41st out of 173 countries worldwide in the same category and 14th from 47 Asian nations.
At present, the government has signed contracts with five vaccine manufacturers, which include Sinovac, Astrazeneca, Moderna, Novovax and Gamaleya. Contracts with Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer are being finalized.
“May anim na tayong vaccine na merong EAU at ang natitira nalang po ang Moderna at Novovax,” Galvez told the President during the Monday meeting.
Galvez said the country expects a steady supply of about 10 million to 15 million vaccine doses per month in the third and fourth quarters of this year. He added that the government is closely working with other nations through diplomatic channels for the country to get a steady and secure supply of vaccines to realize its target of inoculating 50 to 70 million adult Filipinos and enable the nation to achieve herd immunity by year end.