RUSSIAN DELIVERY. Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. (left) and Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Marat Pavlov welcome the arrival of 50,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on Sunday night (May 30, 2021). Another shipment of the Russian jabs is expected within the month. (PNA photo by by Avito Dalan)
MANILA – The national vaccination program is eyeing to reach 10 million doses by the middle of the year as the bulk of Sputnik, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca orders arrive within June.
On June 6, one million doses of China’s Sinovac are expected while 1.3 million and 900,000 US-made Pfizer jabs are arriving on June 7 and 11, respectively.
Moderna vaccines, also from the US, are scheduled for delivery on June 21.
“We are very thankful that we have already breached the five-million figure and this June, mapapabilis tayo (we will speed up). We are aiming to breach another five by the end of this month,” said National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Sunday night during the arrival of 50,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccines at Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
“There will also be another batch from the COVAX facility this month most likely,” he added.
The Sputnik V jabs were taken to the PharmaServ cold storage in Marikina City.
So far, the country has received 80,000 doses of the Russian vaccines after the first two tranches of 15,000 doses each on May 1 and 12. Another shipment will arrive within 21 days.
Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Marat Pavlov, who also welcomed the delivery, said the occasion further strengthened cooperation between the two nations in fighting the pandemic.
“This is timely for the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Russia. It is important for us to help the Filipino people. [We hope to] contribute to the strength in our relationship,” he said in an interview.
Last week, Russian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Igor Morgulov said the vaccine allotment is one of the prominent areas for cooperation between the Philippines and Russia and expressed hope that more batches of the jabs could be delivered in the next months.
Galvez said he is thankful for all the countries that committed to share their surplus vaccines with the Philippines.
On Monday, the Bureau of Customs-Port of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (BOC-NAIA) said it has already cleared the latest shipment of the Russian-made Covid-19 jabs.
The cargo was precleared at the Covid-19 One-Stop-Shop of BOC-NAIA on May 29. (with Ferdinand Patinio/PNA)
