PH to receive total of over 8.24 million COVID-19 shots on Tuesday alone - task force

MANILA - The Philippines on Tuesday afternoon welcomed more than 2.45 million donated doses of COVID-19 vaccine doses manufactured by Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, as the country races against time to inoculate its target population by the end of the year.

The newly-delivered shots numbering 2,457,600 arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) around 4 p.m.

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Of this figure, 1,512,000 doses were from Moderna, including 1,058,400 donated by the French government and 453,600 donated by the Spanish government through the UN-led vaccine sharing platform COVAX, the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 said.

These arrived through Emirates Airline flight EK332 at NAIA Terminal 3.

A total of 945,600 doses of the single-shot Janssen vaccine were also donated by the Dutch government through COVAX. It arrived via Qatar Airways flight QR932 at the NAIA Terminal 3.

An additional more than 2 million doses still donated by the Dutch government is scheduled to arrive in Manila by 10 p.m., the NTF said.

The newly delivered COVID-19 vaccine doses raise the country's total supply to nearly 160 million as of Tuesday afternoon.

The NTF noted that the country will receive more than 8.24 million doses on Tuesday alone.

Philippine authorities aim to fully inoculate at least 54 million Filipinos by the end of the year, to achieve protection from the respiratory disease especially amid the emergence of new variants and to safely reopen the pandemic-battered economy.

The country has slated its second wave of national inoculation days on Dec. 15 to 17 to achieve the target, but vaccination in some areas will be postponed due to the threat of storm Rai (will be known as Odette when it enters the Philippines).

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Latest government data showed over 41.5 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while almost 55 million others have received their first dose.

More than 809,000 people, meanwhile, have received their boosters.

The number of those fully immunized from COVID-19 accounts for 53.82 of the high-end 77 million target, data showed.

The widening vaccination coverage in the country has been cited as main reason for the decline in new infections observed since October.

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