Vaccine deliveries to hit 100-M mark by month-end — Galvez

THE government is expecting to hit the 100-million milestone in terms of its vaccine inventory by the end of the month.

This was relayed by National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., who said the country is on track in hitting the 100 million-mark in terms of vaccines received since February, as total vaccine arrivals have now reached 77.4 million doses.

The vaccine doses we have already received is already at half of the volume we need. The 100 million target by the end of October is on track with the expected deliveries of more than 10 million doses (of) procured Pfizer vaccines, five million doses of Moderna, 10 million doses of Sinovac, and the remaining 5.9 million doses of US-COVAX donation,” he said.

The arrival of US-COVAX donations this month is very significant. COVAX donations now account for 19,653,730 doses. We expect to receive 6.7 million more this October including the 844,800 AstraZeneca vaccines from the German-COVAX donation,” he added.

The vaccine czar shared that the government is due to sign a supply agreement with Johnson & Johnson for the procurement of around six million doses of the one-shot Janssen vaccines.

The doses, he said, will be part of the scheduled January 2022 vaccine deliveries.

Galvez said the NTF is currently negotiating with four manufacturers for the country’s vaccine allocation next year composed of 90 to 100 million doses.

NTF Deputy Chief Implementer and testing czar Secretary Vivencio Dizon likewise expressed confidence in the country’s growing vaccine supply, as well as the continued expansion of its vaccination coverage.

Supply is no longer a problem. That is why the President approved that we open to the general population. What that means is that anyone who wants to be vaccinated will get the jab,” Dizon said.

Galvez said that the national government has a current stockpile of 31 million doses that will be sufficient to continue the vaccination program and cover new sectors.

The chief implementer said that the national government still aims to sustain a vaccination rate of 600,000 to 800,000 jabs daily by year-end.

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