MORE PFIZER VAX. The Philippines received the second tranche of the government-procured Pfizer vaccine on Monday (July 26, 2021) evening at the NAIA Terminal 3 in Pasay City. The latest shipment is part of the 40 million doses of Pfizer procured by the government. (PNA photo by Joey Razon)
MANILA – The latest batch of the government-procured Pfizer vaccines that arrived Monday evening will be sent to provinces now capable of handling jabs that require ultralow temperature, a health official said.
A total of 375,570 doses of US-made Pfizer arrived at the NAIA Terminal 3 in Pasay City, the second tranche of the 40 million Pfizer vaccine purchased by the government.
"It will be distributed to the National Capital Region (NCR), Cebu, Davao, and others who have not yet received it before because capable na sila ngayon (because they are capable to handle the Pfizer jabs now)," Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Ma. Carolina Vidal-Taino said in a media interview.
The first shipment of purchased Pfizer vaccine containing 562,770 doses arrived last July 21.
The Air Hong Kong plane which carried the shipment landed first on Cebu-Mactan International Airport in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu on Monday at 6:23 p.m. to deliver the region's share before it arrived at the NAIA Terminal 3 later that night.
On Tuesday, Davao Region is expected to receive their additional doses.
Based on the latest data from the Bureau of Customs-Port of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (BOC-NAIA) as of Tuesday, a total of 3,364,920 doses of the American-made vaccines have been cleared for release.
The vaccines were precleared by the Port of NAIA’s One Stop Shop ahead of its arrival and immediately taken to a designated cold storage facility.
The latest vaccine arrival brings the country's total vaccine supply to 31,360,700 doses from six manufacturers - Sinovac, Oxford AstraZeneca, Gamaleya, Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson&Johnson.
As of July 25, a total of 17,202,421 doses have been administered -- 6,089,314 are fully vaccinated while 11,113,107 received their first dose. (with Ferdinand Patinio/PNA)
