MANILA, Philippines — Nearly 700,000 doses of AstraZeneca purchased by the private sector arrived in the Philippines on Friday morning.
A batch of 698,600 doses of AstraZeneca arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1. Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. and presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion were at the NAIA to welcome the arrival of the vaccines.
This shipment of vaccine came just hours after the Philippines on Thursday night received 1,014,390 doses of Pfizer and 400,000 doses of Sputnik V. These batches of vaccines are part of the government’s procured supply.
Galvez said an interview streamed by State-run PTV that the country is expecting another batch of Pfizer doses to arrive in the country. He added that they are hoping to “breach 100 million vaccines that will be delivered by end of the month.”
The government’s vaccination program moved to cover the general adult population, and more recently, minors as it ramps up inoculation.
Galvez said they intend to focus on the vaccination of children.
“We included another hospital in the pool region of [National Capital Region, so more than 23 hospitals are now conducting simultaneous inoculation for children,” he added.
The Food and Drug Administration has so far approved Emergency Use Authorization for Pfizer and Moderna to be used for children aged 12 to 17 years old.
Government data showed that as of October 21, the country has so far administered 54,444,161 doses of vaccines against COVID-19. There are 25,101,222 Filipinos who have so far completed their vaccines, while 29,342,939 are waiting for the second jabs.
COVID-19 cases in the country hit 2,740,111 on Thursday, with 4,806 new infections tallied on that day. Of these, 65,835 remain as active cases. — Kristine Joy Patag with reports from Christian Deiparine