The Philippines was set to receive 400,000 more Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine doses donated by China this week.
Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian on Monday said that the Philippines was set to receive an additional 400,000 Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine doses donated by China this week.
In a statement, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian said that the second batch of China-donated Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines was arriving “soon”.
Xilian also said that their team had been working round the clock with their Philippine counterparts for the arrival “later this week” of 400,000 Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine doses donated by the Chinese government.
According to Xilian, this would be China’s second donation to the Philippines after airlifting the 600,000 Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine doses last February 28, which would bring the total amount of donation to one million Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine doses.
“No one is safe until everyone is safe. In the face of the spread of new COVID-19 variants across the globe, and the resurgence of cases in the Philippines, we need to race against time in our efforts to speed up the mass inoculation process,” Xilian said.
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Last February 28, the Chinese government delivered 600,000 Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine doses, its first batch of donation that kickstarted the country’s COVID-19 vaccination drive.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Sunday said that 1 million CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine doses purchased by the Philippine government from Sinovac Biotech area also expected to arrive on March 29.
The Philippines had also received 525,600 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses through the COVAX vaccine sharing facility. According to Roque, additional supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses from AstraZeneca would arrive in early April at the latest.
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As of Monday, more than 336,000 — mostly medical frontliners — had been inoculated in the Philippines against the coronavirus disease, according to data from the health ministry.
Up to 70 million were targeted for inoculation in order to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that over 1.1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses had been distributed and 1,623 vaccination sites were currently vaccinating health workers in 17 regions.
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