810,810 doses of French-donated Pfizer vaccine arrive

The Philippines received on Wednesday the shipment of 810,810 doses of Pfizer vaccines donated by the French government through the World Health Organization's COVAX facility.

According to state media PTV, the aircraft carrying the vaccines arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at past 9 p.m.

French Embassy First Counsellor Frabrice Fize welcomed the shipment of vaccines as he also

"I would like to express our sadness and solidarity with the Filipino people after the damages and loss of human lives because of Typhoon Odette. We would like to express our solidarity in this very hard time for the Philippines," Fize said.

"But we are happy today to also be able to stand with our Filipino friends and to be able to help this country in fighting the pandemic," Fize added.

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Jaime Ledda, who was also at the sidelines of the delivery, also thanked the French government for the donations of the COVID-19 jabs.

For his part, National Task Force against COVID-19 special adviser Dr. Ted Herbosa said they already have a meeting with the inter-cluster to prepare for a possible outbreak of the Omicron variant.

He likewise hoped that Odette victims would be spared from COVID-19.

"We do hope that the areas affected by the typhoon will not suffer from any COVID-19 outbreak," he said in an interview at the airport.

As of December 21, government data showed that 45 million Filipinos were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while more than 1 million received booster doses.—LDF, GMA News