MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines on Sunday received three million more doses of Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine, adding to the government's procured supply.
A Philippine Airlines plane carrying the jabs landed at the NAIA Terminal 2 in Pasay past 5 p.m. of September 26.
At 39 million doses, Sinovac makes up majority of the vaccine supply the country has received to date, per Philstar.com's monitoring.
Some 37.1 million of that were procured by the national government, a million were donated by Beijing, while 500,000 were bought by the private sector and 400,000 by local governments.
Per vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., these areas would receive most of the new Sinovac doses: Calabarzon, Central Luzon, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Davao Region, Cagayan Valley, Ilocos Region, Zamboanga Peninsula and in Metro Manila for second doses.
The Philippines began its inoculation efforts in March, with authorities today racing to vaccinate more amid a fresh surge in coronavirus cases.
Galvez said over 20.2 million Filipinos have since completed their COVID-19 shots, making up only 26% of the targeted 70 million this year.
Some 23.6 million have received their initial dose. "Hopefully, before the end of the month we reach 30% of our targeted population," Galvez added. — Christian Deiparine