Philippines: '5.6m vaccine doses by March' - Yahoo News Australia

At least 5.6 million COVID-19 doses of two international vaccines are expected to arrive in the Philippines in the first quarter of the year, the chief of the country's coronavirus task force says.

The initial volume is part of the 9.4 million doses of the two vaccines - one developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, the other by AstraZeneca - that are expected to be shipped in the first batch, Carlito Galvez, who also handles the government's vaccine procurement, said.

Galvez said he has received a letter from Aurelia Nguyen, managing director of the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility, informing the Philippine government of the shipment schedule and volume.

Review committees from the WHO, UNICEF and the Geneva-based vaccine alliance GAVI granted the country the vaccines after the Philippines demonstrated its preparedness to receive them, he said.

The country's Food and Drug Administration has approved the emergency use of both brands.

The Philippines, with Southeast Asia's second-biggest COVID-19 outbreak at more than half a million infections and in excess of 10,000 deaths, aims to start immunisations in February.

The country is to initially receive 117,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine around mid-month, and 5.5 million to 9.3 million doses of the AstraZeneca brand, Galvez said.

The volumes are "indicative since it all depends on the global supply", he said.

The government aims to secure 148 million doses, and has pledged to inoculate 70 million people this year, or two-thirds of the country's population.

The Philippines has also secured 25 million doses of the vaccine developed by China's Sinovac, with the first 50,000 expected to arrive in February.

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2021-01-31 10:35:00Z
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