Arrival of Pfizer vaccines will be slightly delayed

The arrival of the first batch of Pfizer vaccines from the World Health Organization’s COVAX facility will be slightly delayed, according to vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr.

According to Galvez, Pfizer vaccines are expected to arrive in the third or fourth week of February. It was first mentioned that vaccinations are expected in mid-February, according to the World Health Organization.

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“The promise of the (World Health Organization) before is second week. But there are documents that needed to be submitted before its arrival. Medyo ma-delay. Mag-slide tayo ng another week,” Galvez said at a Senate hearing.

“Considering the agreement medyo made-delay ng 3rd week of February. Pero definitely it will be on February,” he added.

There has been no arrival date for the first batch of 117,000 Pfizer shots from the COVAX facility, according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque.

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“Inaasahan po natin, hindi matatapos ang buwan ng Pebrero at darating din ang paunang shipment galing sa COVAX Facility,” he said.

Meanwhile, the country will receive an initial batch of 600,000 COVID-19 vaccine shots from China’s Sinovac Biotech on February 23, according to Malacañang.

“Ang bakuna po na Sinovac na galing naman sa China, nakaukit na po sa bato ang pagdating. Ito po ay a-beynte tres ng Pebrero,” said Roque.

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Arrival of Pfizer vaccines will be slightly delayed

But according to Galvez, the China-made vaccines cannot be brought to the Philippines without emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Meanwhile, President Duterte allegedly ordered that the soldiers and police be vaccinated first when China’s Sinovac vaccine donation arrives in the country.

Senator Christopher “Bong” Go said that President Duterte instructed him that once

Sinovac arrives, soldiers and police should be the priority.

According to Go, this is what the President wants because the soldiers are also among the considered frontliners.

Apart from the soldiers and police, the senator also recommended to the President and Galvez to include in the priority to vaccinate athletes who will compete in the summer Olympics in Japan and SEA games in Vietnam.

This is because it is necessary to train athletes who will bring honor to the country.