MANILA — The Philippines expects to receive at least 3.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in June, Malacañang said on Monday.

Authorities are set to receive the following COVID-19 shots next month, said Palace spokesman Harry Roque.

• June 6: 1 million from Beijing's Sinovac Biotech
• June 7: 1.3 million from US-based Pfizer-BioNTech
• June 11: 900,000 from Pfizer-BioNTech
• June 21: 200,000 from American firm Moderna

Most Filipinos prefer COVID-19 vaccines from Sinovac and Pfizer, a recent survey the Social Weather Stations showed.

The Philippines has received some 8.329 million COVID-19 shots, of which around 5.120 million have been administered, as of May 29. Sinovac jabs account for the bulk of this supply.

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The government this month revised its vaccination target to 58 million from the initial 70 million by year-end.

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"Nais ba nating mas maraming bakuna ang dumating? Siyempre, dahil mas ninanais nating mabigyan ng proteksyon," Roque said in a press briefing.

"Pero given the circumstance po na talagang nagkakaroon na nga tayo ng vaccine apartheid, I would say, iyong mahigit 5 milyon na po ang nabakunahan natin is an accomplishment itself, despite the very tight supply for these vaccines."

(Do we want more vaccines to arrive? Of course, because we want to give more people protection. But given the circumstance that there is vaccine apartheid, I would say the more than 5 million shots that we administered is an an accomplishment itself, despite the very tight supply for these vaccines )

The government will start in June the coronavirus vaccination of some 35.5 million essential workers, the fourth priority group. About 13 million of these frontliners are based in Metro Manila, Roque said in a press briefing.

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He denied that 90 percent of the country's COVID-19 vaccines would go to the capital region.

The inter-agency task force on COVID-19 will allocate "at most, 38 percent to 42 percent" of the supply to Metro Manila and 8 other areas, while the majority of doses will go to the rest of the country, including areas experiencing surges in coronavirus infections, he said.

Video courtesy of PTV