QUEZON CITY, (PIA) -- An additional 1 million tranche of Sinovac vaccines arrived in the country onboard Cebu Pacific Flight 5J 671 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 in Pasay City on Monday.

Vaccine Czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III were among the officials who received the supplementary batch of China-manufactured COVID-19 vaccines.

At present, Sinovac is the most widely distributed coronavirus vaccine in the Philippines with a total number of 12 million delivered doses as of June 28.

This was followed by the initial 2.5 million vaccine supply arrival from AstraZeneca, 2.4 million from Pfizer, 249,000 from Moderna and 180,000 doses of Sputnik V.

In an interview, Galvez and Duque named Regions 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 as the priority regions in terms of vaccine rollout following the prospect of the government to reach herd immunity by targeting the areas in the Philippines that are essentially susceptible to infection surges or COVID-19 hotspots.

The active-moving pace of vaccination in the country marking its 10^th million administered inoculations is an indication of the government's initiative to exhaust efforts in delivering efficient COVID-19 response.

Galvez also noted that the efficacy of Sinovac vaccines in preventing death and hospitalization as well as treating severe cases remains at 94-95%.

Galvez emphasized that among the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, Sinovac is by far the ‘very diligent’ in terms of delivery providing  the most steady supply in the country.

As of June 28, the Philippines has already received a total of 17.4 million doses of coronavirus vaccines with a single number of 9.1 million vaccine arrival for the month of June.

In terms of vaccine hesitancy following the cases of reported vaccination mishaps, Duque said that "there is no 100% efficacy rate" and that "the benefit outweighs the risk."

The National Adverse Events Following Immunization Committee, for its part, is expected to present a causality assessment in order for the government to objectively address any untoward issue. (PIA-NCR with reports from OJT Janna Pineda)