QUEZON CITY, (PIA) -- Some 262,000 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine arrived in the country Wednesday night, which were then transported to the PharmaServ Express cold-chain storage facility in Marikina City.
The Pfizer vaccines, which arrived on board Air Hongkong flight LD456 carried some 262,080 doses.
Assistant Secretary Wilben Mayor, head of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) sub-task force on current operations, said the latest Pfizer vaccine would be deployed in COVID-19 high-risk and vulnerable areas such as the National Capital Region and Region 4-A (Calabarzon) under the vaccination program's "focus and expand" strategy.
National Task Force Against COVID-19 photo
"Though meron na tayong ngayong tinatawag na from the spot, nagkakaroon agad ng inoculation. Dinadala na agad doon sa area and pagdating doon ini-inject na kaagad (Though, we now have the so-called from-the-spot inoculation strategy. We deploy the vaccine in the area and administer it immediately)," Mayor said.
He said the country's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now in talks with Pfizer-BioNTech about its application for the full approval for their COVID-19 vaccine.
"Actually FDA has already coordinated with Pfizer for the submission of the necessary documents for that purpose," he said.
The United States FDA has granted full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for people 16 and older on Aug. 23, the first for any jab.
The deployment of the highly sensitive vaccine, he added, will depend on the handling capacity of the local government units since it requires a temperature of -80°C to -60°C prior to dilution.
"But, again, we leave it to the Vaccine Cluster to decide on whether to which particular area that they will distribute or allocate this Pfizer vaccine," he said.
The Philippines has a total of 2,472,210 doses of Pfizer vaccine procured by the government and 2,479,239 doses acquired through the COVAX Facility, as more life-saving shots are expected to be delivered in the coming weeks that would ensure stable supply until yearend.
The latest shipment brings the country's total number of COVID-19 vaccines to 48,885,590 doses. (PIA-NCR)
