About 6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines arriving this week

The Philippines on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, received 400,000 additional doses of Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac. (Photo from a PTV video)

MANILA, Philippines — Around six million COVID-19 vaccine doses are expected to be delivered to the Philippines this week, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the national vaccine manager, said in the taped weekly briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte that aired late Monday night and lasted until early Tuesday.

The expected shipments are four million doses of CoronaVac, a million of Sinopharm, and 400,000 to 500,000 of Moderna, according to Galvez.

On Friday, he added, 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca are also expected to arrive.

In the past two weeks, Galvez said 8.7 million vaccine doses were delivered.

Since February, 42.5 million COVID-19 vaccines have already been delivered.

Of this number, the National Task Force against COVID-19 said 23.7 million were procured by the national government, 2.9 million were procured by local governments and the private sector, and 15.9 million were donated.

Over 12.5 million persons have so far been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The government aims to inoculated 50 to 70 million persons by year-end.

ATM