MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte will personally welcome the arrival of 487,200 doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine from the COVAX facility tonight.
Said vaccine is expected to reach the country around 7:30 p.m.
“AstraZeneca’s expected time of arrival is based on the scheduled handover of vaccines. We will notify everyone, if and when there is a change of schedule,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. remains non-committal on the possible arrival of the initial shipment of AstraZeneca’s vaccine as it has been postponed several times.
“I cannot confirm yet. Dalawang beses na kaming nakuryente diyan. Mabuti i-confirm pag may plane nang lumipad from Belgium,” Galvez said in an interview on Wednesday afternoon.
525,600 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine were supposed to arrive on Monday but were delayed due to some issues.
The country has already earmarked around 5.2 million to 9.2 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine after it was granted an emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Jan. 28 this year.
The FDA earlier said that the vaccine has an efficacy rate of 70 percent after the first dose, and trials are ongoing to determine the efficacy rate after the second dose.
The Philippines has already started its COVID-19 vaccine rollout on Monday following the arrival of 600,000 doses of vaccine from Sinovac Biotech./PN
