PH expecting 16.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in August

The bulk of the vaccines expected to be delivered in August will come from Sinovac BioTech. (File photo from REUTERS)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines expects to receive at least 16.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines of various brands in August, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., national vaccine manager, said on Monday in the weekly taped meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte.

Galvez said that a large bulk of the expected vaccines next month would come from Sinovac BioTech —  8.4 million doses of CoronaVac that the government bought.

Galvez said four million doses would come from the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility. He did not disclose the brand.

Two million would come from Pfizer-BioNTech.

Some 1,170,000 doses of AstraZeneca procured by the private sector will be delivered sometime from Aug. 9 to 15.

One million more doses of Moderna also procured by the government will arrive in August.

This July, the government is likewise expecting over 16 million vaccine doses.

According to Malacañang, 89 million doses of COVID-19 jabs worth around $1 billion have been procured, of which $400 million have been paid for so far.

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