MANILA, Philippines — A shipment of 193,000 coronavirus vaccines developed by American drugmaker Pfizer is expected to arrive in the Philippines on Monday, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III confirmed.
The health secretary said this during a press conference held Saturday following the arrival of 2 million AstraZeneca vaccines, also from the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility.
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Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. previously said shots from Pfizer jabs will likely be distributed to Metro Manila, Davao and Cebu — areas that have the capacity to store them at the required temperature of -70°C. The standard temperature within the existing cold chain system in the country is about 2°C to 8°C.
The Pfizer vaccines arriving on Monday will be the country's first batch of jabs from the American drugmaker. The delivery will also bring the total number of vaccines shipped to the Philippines to about 7.69 million.
A little more than 421,000 people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 since the government kicked off its inoculation program in March. Over 1.8 million Filipinos have received their first dose.
— Bella Perez-Rubio with reports from Xave Gregorio and The STAR