Around 117,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility would be arriving in the Philippines next month, National Task Force Against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon said on Wednesday.
“Ang commitment ng WHO (World Health Organization), darating itong 117,000 doses ngayong Abril. Malaking bagay po ito sa ating mga health workers na priority nating matapos [na mabakunahan] hanggang sa buwan ng Abril at Mayo,” Dizon said during the Laging Handa public briefing.
The Philippines has so far received at least 1.12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines Sinovac and AstraZeneca through the global effort COVAX facility.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez earlier said that another one million doses of Sinovac, worth P700 million will arrive on March 21.
Dizon is confident that the 117,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would be given to health workers by April.
“Tingin ko aabot po ito kasi we only have around one million doses now and we need 3.4 million doses po ang kinakailangan natin for our health workers,” he said.
Also read: Arrival of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines will be slightly delayed
117,00 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines arriving in April – Dizon
Dizon earlier said the government needs to vaccinate 250,000 to 300,000 people per day to meet its goal of vaccinating 50 million Filipinos this year.
“We have a goal of inoculating 50 million Filipinos this year. We believe we can hit the target of 250,000-300,000 inoculations per day when the bulk of vaccines arrive,” Dizon said in an interview with ANC.
“[Vaccinating] 250,000 to 300,000 plus thousand per day is the target, but it is very difficult to measure the steady state of our inoculation of this point since the limited supply is still being distributed to hospitals across the country,” he added.
The Philippines is the last country in Southeast Asia to roll out its COVID-19 vaccination program which started on March 1.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said Monday that the COVID-19 vaccination is the “only solution” to jumpstart the economy.
The government started its immunization drive last week after the first batch of vaccines from Sinovac and AstraZeneca arrived through the global alliance COVAX facility.
“I think everyone shares the same feeling, the vaccine should come in as fast as it can. This is the only solution we have to jumpstart the economy,” Gatchalian told ANC’s Headstart.