MANILA, Philippines — The expected delivery of over 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine will not happen on Monday and will be delayed by a week because of global supply issues, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Sunday.
“Mayroon lang balita kasi na hindi matutuloy [ang delivery] dahil sabi ng WHO (World Health Organization), nagkaka-problema sila sa supply. So, maaantala raw ng mga isang linggo,” Duque said in an interview over state-run PTV 4.
(There is news that the delivery will no longer push through because there is a problem with the supply according to WHO.)
“Kanina tumanggap kami ng komunikasyon na nagsasabi na hindi na matutuloy. Baka abutin ng isang linggo pa,” he added.
(We earlier received a communication that the delivery will no longer push through and will be delayed for about a week.)
About 525,600 doses of vaccines from the British-Swede drugmaker were expected to arrive in the Philippines on Monday, which is part of the first round of allocated doses from the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility.