Vials of COVID-19 vaccines are being prepared at a vaccination site in Makati City on July 28, 2022. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File
MANILA — The Philippines will receive an additional 300,000 bivalent COVID-19 vaccines from a yet-unnamed country, the Department of Health said Tuesday.
The donation will bring the country’s total number of the modified jabs to almost 1.4 million, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a press briefing.
About 1 million doses of the omicron-targeting vaccines from COVAX facility, the United Nations-backed international vaccine-sharing scheme, are expected to arrive in Manila by the end of March.
"Meron ding isang bansa, which we cannot name for now because the agreements are being finalized, pero magbibigay naman sila ng additional 300,000 plus na doses," she told reporters.
"In all, sa ngayon, meron na tayong concrete na plano para po dito sa almost 1.4 million doses of bivalent [vaccines]," she added.
The DOH is already finalizing the guidelines on the use of the bivalent vaccines.
The agency earlier said it would administer the first batch of bivalent vaccines to vulnerable groups such as healthcare workers, senior citizens and individuals with comorbidities.
To date, around 73.8 million Filipinos are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Of the figure, some 21.3 million have received first boosters while more than 3.8 million have gotten second boosters.
As of Feb. 6, the Philippines has 9,338 active COVID-19 cases.
Since the pandemic, the country has recorded 4,073,851 infections, of which more than 65,865 led to deaths.