MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines on Wednesday received 400,000 additional doses of Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac.
The doses arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) aboard a Philippine Airlines flight past 7 a.m.
The donated CoronaVac vaccines were in addition to the initial 600,000 doses that arrived in the country last February 28.
In a joint statement, the Department of Health and the National Task Force against COVID-19 said the additional donated CoronaVac vaccines will be instrumental in the country’s ongoing COVID-19 vaccination program, “especially at this moment when a persistent increase in cases is being observed.”
The Philippines on Wednesday received 400,000 additional doses of Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac. Screengrab from PTV.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III welcomed the arrival of the vaccines alongside Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian, testing czar Vince Dizon and Senate committee on health chairperson Senator Bong Go.
Huang expressed optimism for the Philippines to soon recover from the pandemic with the help of the donated vaccines.
“I’m happy to know that until now, more than 200,000 people have been inoculated with Chinese vaccine. The vaccination is going smoothly,” Huang said in an interview at NAIA.
“We hope we will contribute to speed up the mass vaccination in this country so that you win over the war against the virus and recover your economy at an early date,” he added.
One million more doses of CoronaVac purchased by the national government will arrive on March 29.