The Philippines is set to receive 600,000 doses of the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccines developed by China’s Sinovac on February 23, Malacañang announced Thursday.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement as the government prepares for the rollout of its vaccination plan against COVID-19 starting next week.
In his Thursday presser, Roque said that the Chinese government donated 100,000 doses of CoronaVac vaccines for the Department of National Defense (DND), bringing the total number of Sinovac shots to 600,000.
“Hindi lang po kalahating milyon ‘yan, dinagdagan pa po ng 100,000 para sa Department of National Defense,” he said.
“Ang bakuna po na Sinovac na galing naman po sa China, nakaukit na po sa bato ang pagdating – ito po ay ang 23 ng Pebrero,” he added.
President Duterte has expressed his preference for either the Chinese or Russian COVID-19 vaccine. However, none of the two have been issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) by the government yet.
According to Roque, the government will store the CoronaVac until it gets an EUA.
“It will be stored until such time that it is approved. If it is not issued an EUA then it will be sent back,” he said.
So far, the government has issued EUAs to Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca. The vaccines from the said companies are expected to arrive this month through the COVAX Facility. (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos)
