A total of 132,210 shots of the 193,000 Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine doses set to arrive on Monday will be allocated to Metro Manila, according to Jonathan Andal's report on "24 Oras Weekend."
Manila Mayor Isko Moreno
Slowly but surely, it is becoming apparent that vaccine hesitancy in the city of Manila is now being eased out and in its place, the public is beginning to place their trust and confidence in getting the jab, owing to the desire to get protected from the severe effects of COVID-19.
As of this writing, I am very happy to note that more than 395,000 individuals have already signified their interest in availing of the free vaccination by having themselves registered with manilacovid19vaccine.com.
We launched this pre-registration before the clock struck 12 on December 31 last year, as a way of ushering in the year 2021.
Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III (PCOO / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
The delivery of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines were supposed to arrive last February.
“On Monday, May 10, we are expecting the Pfizer delivery of around 193,000 doses,” said Duque in a press briefing on Saturday, May 8.
The delivery of these vaccines is through the World Health Organization (WHO)-led COVAX facility a global initiative aimed at securing equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.
The announcement came after the Philippines on Saturday received more than two million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines also through the COVAX Facility.
“Since the arrival of the first shipment of vaccines from COVAX Facility in March, more than two million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the Philippines,” the DOH said in a statement.
Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III (PCOO / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
The Health chief made the statement when asked if the government is still planning to return the donated Sinopharm vaccines to China after the World Health Organization (WHO) approved the vaccine brand for emergency use.
“I have already instructed the public health services office of the DOH to file with FDA for issuance of emergency use authorization for the Sinopharm donated vaccines so that there would be no need to return them,” said Duque in a press briefing on Saturday, May 8.
President Duterte on May 5 requested the Chinese Embassy to withdraw the Sinopharm donated vaccines after his inoculation drew public criticisms. The vaccine brand has yet to secure an EUA with the Philippine FDA.
Published May 8, 2021, 1:47 PM
More than two million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines were delivered to the country by the Covax facility on Saturday afternoon, May 8, which brought the total supply to 7.5 million doses.
The 2,030,400 AstraZeneca vaccines were fetched via Singapore Airlines commercial flight SQ 0910. The plane landed at Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City around 1 p.m.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, witnessed the arrival of the vaccines with Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and testing czar Vince Dizon.
This was by far the biggest single shipment of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines in the country as the national government seeks to ramp up its free inoculation program, particularly in Metro Manila where it aims to achieve herd immunity by November.