QUEZON CITY, (PIA) -- The first shipment of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine for the month of July was delivered to the Philippines on Wednesday morning at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 via Cebu Pacific flight 5J 671.
The latest government-procured tranche received by the country consists of the initial 1 million doses from the 2.5 million CoronaVac supply delivery that is set to complete its 15th batch stockpile by this week on July 17.
According to Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. who witnessed the arrival, these Sinovac vaccines will largely be allocated for the inoculation of the second immunization dose as many regions face limitation of supplies especially in Metro Manila.
While the NCR Plus 8 remains as the central focus of the vaccine deployment, Secretary Galvez also made mention of the other ‘Plus 20’ priority areas to join the list of the national government’s equitable distribution plan. In particular, the supplementary 1.5 million CoronaVac doses that will complete this batch are already directed to the said sector which is yet to be specified.
Meanwhile, 10 million of the total vaccine supplies to arrive in the country this July will be deployed among target provinces while the approximated 4 to 6 million anti-COVID jabs are intended for NCR Plus 8 along with other highly urbanized cities.
As per the vaccine czar, this decentralization is relative to the directive of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte that is inclined to giving the focus of the vaccine supply distribution to provinces as well as to the identified surge areas like regions Western and Central Visayas which already received 700K doses, CALABARZON with more or less 1.5 million tranche, Central Luzon with almost 1.3 million supplies, and BARMM with about 300K allocation to date.
At present, Secretary Galvez reported that the Philippines has by far secured the roughly 15% or 21,779,910 vaccines out of the 148 million supply prospect of the government. Of which, Sinovac’s CoronaVac is the widely utilized jab in the country with 13 million total delivered doses including the 1 million China-donated and 900K procured tranches by the private sector and LGUs as of July 14.
On the state of COVID-19 response in the Philippines
Countering the earlier projection of the US-based think tank Oxford Economics stating that the Philippines will be among the last countries to achieve herd immunity, the vaccine czar said the country is rather on its headway to reaching population protection in light of the continuously increasing daily inoculation target of the national vaccination program which recently breached its 375K mark.
Based on the review of Secretary Galvez, the March 2021 data used by Oxford Economics as a reference to substantiate the said projection was "outdated," therefore "null and void."
In fact, US expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has reportedly regarded the COVID-19 response of the Philippine Government and further encouraged the country to invest more in scientific research to back policies.
In response, Galvez, also the chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, expressed a forward-looking perspective that the research institutions in the country will unite to form a Centers for Disease Control (CDC)-like vaccine security similar to the US.
Among the prospective research institutions are the University of the Philippines National Institute of Health (UPNIH) and the Syndromic Analysis Center. (PIA-NCR with reports from OJT Janna Pineda)
