PASAY CITY, Philippines – The Philippines received another one million CoronaVac doses on June 28, Monday, bringing the country’s total supply of Sinovac-made vaccines to 12 million.
This latest shipment is the fifth batch of CoronaVac vaccines delivered this June. To date, a total of 6.5 million doses have been shipped to the country this month.
National Task Force Against Covid-19 Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III welcomed the arrival of the vaccines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
“We are very grateful to Sinovac BioTech for continuing to provide us with a steady supply of anti-COVID vaccines and increasing the pace of their supply deliveries to the country,” Galvez said.
100% healthcare workers vaccinated with first dose
Meanwhile, the vaccine czar reported that the Philippines has already inoculated 100% of the nation’s A1 priority group or frontline health care workers who are included in the government’s masterlist.
According to Galvez, a total of 1,667,015 doses were administered to healthcare workers as their first shot, while 1,130,554 healthcare workers are now fully-vaccinated against Covid-19.
He said the National Vaccine Program has also achieved another milestone, as the country has breached the 10 million mark in terms of total jabs made.
A total of 10,065,414 vaccines have already been administered since the vaccine program was rolled out in March.
“Now that 100 percent of our healthcare workers have received their first vaccine doses, we are confident to complete the vaccination of their priority group soon and open up our vaccine program to other sectors,” Galvez said.
The vaccine czar is also hopeful that as the country’s vaccine supply inventory increases, the government would be able to continue to accelerate the implementation and expand the coverage of the vaccine program.
“We are working hard to secure more vaccines for our countrymen, and ramp up our vaccination drive so that we can realize our goal of achieving population protection and herd immunity within the year,” Galvez said.
“Through the milestones we continue to achieve, we are proving our doubters wrong,” he added.
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