COVID-19 vaccine deliveries expected in 2nd quarter

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is expected to receive at least 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines of various brands in this second quarter of 2021, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the country’s vaccine manager, said.

In a pre-recorded meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte, Galvez reported that more than 2 million doses of vaccines would arrive this April.

On April 22, Galvez said 500,000 doses of Sinovac BioTech’s CoronaVac and 20,000 doses of Gamaleya Institute’s Sputnik V would be delivered.

“This is what we call a mini rollout because this has a different component. So we will conduct testing first with the 20,000,” Galvez explained in Filipino.

Another 500,000 doses of CoronaVac will also be delivered on April 29 along with 480,000 doses of Sputnik V, Galvez added.

By the end of this month, Galvez said 195,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine might also arrive.

“They also promised that, when we finish our bilateral agreements, the 2.4 million doses from Pfizer will be delivered early this second quarter,” he said.

According to Galvez, the government also expects the following vaccines to arrive:

May

• 2 million doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac
• 1 to 2 million doses of Gamaleya’s Sputnik V
• 194,000 doses of Moderna

June

• 4.5 million doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac
• 2 million doses of Gamaleya’s Sputnik V
• 1.3 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine

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