An additional three million doses of the Sinovac vaccine arrived Sunday night from China.
Two million of them were bought by the government, while one million were donated by China.
The arrival of the new batch of vaccines at Ninoy Aquino International Airport was received by the National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer and Vaccine Czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian and DFA Acting Undersecretary Antonio Morales.
According to Ambassador Huang, this is a demonstration of the friendship between China and the Philippines.
“This demonstrates the kind of friendship from the Chinese government and Chinese people to the Philippine government and Philippine people. Therefore, we are happy to see that the confirmed cases in this country is going down, is decreasing,” he said.
Morales also thanked China for continuing to donate vaccines.
“The Philippines expresses its appreciation to the the government and people of China for its continuing generosity and very important support to the the Philippines as we ramp up our vaccination, our inoculation and it’s a friendship that we will always value specially as we continue to graple with this pandemic,” said Morales.
Additional 3 million doses of Sinovac arrive
According to Galvez, the continued donation and arrival of vaccines purchased from China in the government’s vaccination program is a big help. So far, he said, up to 44.5 million doses of Sinovac vaccines are arriving in the country.
“This is the 100th shipment of vaccines in the country and coincidentally it is also the Chinese donation along with the purchased vaccine. Remember that the first vaccine arrival in the country was also a donation from China. We would like to thank the Chinese government and also Sinovac,” said Galvez.
It is also said to be in preparation for distributing the third dose or booster shot to healthcare workers, senior citizens, and those with comorbidities following the announcement of the Department of Health.
The government is also confident that the total number of vaccines that will arrive in the country next week will reach 100 million. According to Galvez, so far, it has reached 97,678,340 doses of the vaccine.
Meanwhile, it is said that more than eight thousand minors have been vaccinated against COVID-19. The rollout of children’s vaccination LGUs will begin on October 29.
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