MANILA—Philippine authorities on Sunday afternoon received 3 million more COVID-19 jabs manufactured by Sinovac.
The Sinovac shots arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 via Philippine Airlines flight PR359.
Of the latest deliveries, 2 million doses were procured by the government, while the Chinese government donated another 1 million doses.
The latest batch raises the country's total received vaccine doses to more than 96 million, more than a half of which are jabs from China's Sinovac.
Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. said the new batch of vaccine deliveries will be used for the booster shots of health frontliners, after the Department of Health approved the proposal.
"Ang nakikita natin preparation na rin natin ito sa gagawin nating vaccination for the third dose. Nag-announce na ang DOH for booster for our health workers, our senior citizens and those with comorbidities, immunocompromised, they have the option," he said.
(We are looking at the preparations for the third dose vaccination. The DOH has already announced that health workers, senior citizens and those with comorbidities are eligible for the third dose.)
The DOH has yet to announce its approval of the booster shot, but a letter from the Health Technology Assessment Unit dated October 13 laid out its recommendations for the third vaccine dose.
The said letter, which is already posted on the DOH website, has been signed by Duque.
The Philippines, fighting one of Asia's worst coronavirus outbreaks, has confirmed some 2.75 million infections, including 41,793 deaths. The recent jump in cases is linked to the highly contagious Delta variant.
At least 25 million of the country's target 77 million people have been fully vaccinated so far, while over 29 million are partially vaccinated from the disease.
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