The Philippines will receive 500,000 more doses of government-procured CoronaVac vaccines on April 22, Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana announced Wednesday.
In a statement posted on his official page, the envoy said the Philippine Embassy in Beijing is now facilitating the shipment of the vaccines.
“A team from the Philippine Embassy in Beijing led by First Secretary Winston Almeda & Economic Section Attache Dada Katrina Aromin inspected the shipment of 500,000 vaccines produced by Sinovac on Monday, April 19, before they are brought to the airport for pickup by a Philippine Airlines plane,” he said.
The envoy also confirmed that another 500,000 vials are expected to arrive in Manila next week. The latest shipment is procured from China-based biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac.
“For the month of May, the plan is to purchase 1.5 million doses from Sinovac. As for the subsequent months, it will depend on IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) but the plan will involve monthly deliveries for a total of 25 million by the end of the year,” he told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
The arrival of the additional doses on April 22 would bring to 3,525,600 the number of coronavirus vaccines – CoronaVac and AstraZeneca – the Philippines have so far secured.
The first batch of procured CoronaVac vaccines arrived last March 29, amounting to one million doses. The second batch of 500,000 doses arrived last April 11. (PNA)
