Over 6.2 million Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Moderna doses arrive

The Philippines on Wednesday night received a total of 6,227,050 COVID-19 vaccine doses from pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Moderna.

According to the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, the fresh batch of 1,187,550 doses of government-procured Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal (NAIA) 3 past 8 p.m.

An hour later, an additional 2,249,400 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, bought by the private sector, arrived in the country.

Another supply of 2,249,400 doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine also arrived from the German government through the COVAX facility.

Assistant Secretary Wilben Mayor, head of the NTF’s strategic communications on current operations, encouraged the public to get inoculated against the viral disease after two confirmed cases of COVID-19 Omicron variant in the country.

“Tuloy-tuloy na ang pagdating ng napakaraming bakuna, lahat ng ito ay mabisa laban sa COVID-19. Lalo na ngayon na mayroon na pong dalawang kaso ng Omicron, ito ay kinakailangan tayong magkaroon ng proteksyon at nakikita natin na ang bakuna mismo ang sagot para po labanan ang COVID-19,” he said.

(With the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines, all of them are effective against COVID-19. Especially now that we have two cases of Omicron, we need to have protection and we can see that the vaccine is effective against COVID-19.)

Earlier in the day, the country also welcomed a total of 4,126,500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

Some 214,500 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United Kingdom, 856,800 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from Germany, and 3,055,200 doses of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine from the Dutch government also arrived on Wednesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, the country welcomed over 8.2 million vaccine doses.

The Department of Health (DOH) said that at least 42 million Filipinos are already fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but this is still far from the government target of fully vaccinating 54 million Filipinos by year's end. — Richa Noriega and Ma. Angelica Garcia/BM, GMA News