PH soon to get 415,000 doses of UK-donated AstraZeneca vaccines

A vial labeled with the AstraZeneca coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine is seen in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2021. (File photo from REUTERS)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is expected to receive some 415,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United Kingdom by the end of July or the first week of August, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the national vaccine manager, said Thursday in a taped briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte.

Galvez said the Philippines was still expecting the arrival of about 5.9 million vaccine doses in all by the end of July until the first week of August.

This includes 2.5 million doses of CoronaVac from China’s Sinovac BioTech and the three million doses jointly donated by global initiative COVAX facility and the United States.

In a statement, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the AstraZeneca vaccines were part of the first batch of 100 million doses his country would donate and deliver in poor countries globally.

“We’re doing this to help the most vulnerable, but also because we know we won’t be safe until everyone is safe,” he wrote in a statement posted by the British Embassy in Manila. 

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