COVID-19 vaccines via COVAX facility due in PH by April, May — WHO

MANILA, Philippines — The next batch of vaccines under the World Health Organization (WHO)-led COVAX facility is expected to arrive in the country within this month and in May, an official said Monday.

WHO Country Representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe said he cannot confirm dates but is optimistic that WHO will deliver its commitments to the Philippines under the COVAX facility.

“Unfortunately, I cannot confirm dates but we are expecting a consignment within this month so we believe we will receive some stock of vaccine within this month and also some vaccines next month,” he added.

He also did not specify which brand of vaccines will be delivered to the Philippines.

A total of 979,200 doses of vaccines developed by British-Swede drugmaker AstraZeneca were supposed to arrive in the Philippines in late March or early April but was delayed due to “global logistics constraints,” vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said.

So far, the Philippines has received 525,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine under the COVAX facility. These doses have all been administered, the Department of Health (DOH) said.

The country is slated to receive at least 5.6 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX facility in the first quarter of the year, Galvez earlier said.

Abeyasinghe said the Philippines has so far administered 1.25 million vaccine doses and 63% of healthcare workers have already been vaccinated against COVID-19.

gsg