MANILA (2nd UPDATE) - The biggest delivery of COVID-19 vaccines in a single day yet arrived in the Philippines on Wednesday, the National Task Force Against COVID-19 said.

More than 10.4 million vaccine doses came to the country by plane in 5 batches over the day.

Most of the doses that arrived were donated by European governments, while the rest were bought by the government and private sector.

More than 4 million doses of donated COVID-19 vaccines arrived in 3 batches in the afternoon.

The vaccines received by the country’s National Task Force Against COVID-19 were donations from the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands.

First to arrive were 214,500 were AstraZeneca jabs donated by the British government. The shipment arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 via Emirates Airline flight EK332 around 4 p.m.

• PH welcomes over 2.4 million donated Janssen, Moderna COVID-19 jabs

With the latest arrival, the United Kingdom has already sent 6 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the Philippines, the British Embassy in Manila’s deputy head of mission Alastair Totty told state-run PTV.

Another 856,800 doses of the Moderna vaccine arrived at NAIA past 4 p.m. These were donated by the German government through vaccine-sharing platform COVAX Facility.

A second batch of 2,840,100 Moderna vaccines from Germany also arrived Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, 3,055,200 more Janssen jabs donated by the Dutch government through COVAX have also been delivered. The shipment completes the Netherland's donation of 7,538,400 doses of the single-shot brand, portions of which started arriving Monday.

The batch of 3 million Janssen vaccines will be distributed to the Philippines' island provinces & prioritized for senior citizens, the NTF COVID-19 said.

A second batch of nearly 3 million Moderna jabs from Germany will arrive later Wednesday night.

📸:NTF COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/Lf7kzzKGW3

— Anjo Bagaoisan (@anjo_bagaoisan) December 15, 2021

“Kaya nga naghahanda tayo, because naka-full blast tayo sa vaccination ngayon. Because kung bakunado tayong lahat, mayroon tayong proteksyon. Even though assuming lang magkaroon tayo ng mataas na kaso gaya ng nangyari noon, ang mga kababayan natin noon ay bakunado na,” he said.

(This is why we are preparing, because we are focused on ramping up our vaccination now. Once we are fully vaccinated, we are protected. Even assuming that we have high cases just like before, our people are protected.)

He disclosed that the Philippine government expects 32 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses to arrive before December ends, raising the supply delivered to the country to around 200 million doses by then.

Latest government data showed that at least 42 million individuals are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country, while more than 55 million others have received their partial dose.

A total of 853,500 people have also received their boosters.

The country aims to fully vaccinate at least 54 million by the end of the year, to achieve population protection from the respiratory disease and also protect people from the impact of emerging variants.

• Philippines confirms first 2 cases of COVID-19 omicron variant

“Kaya nga naghahanda tayo, because naka-full blast tayo sa vaccination ngayon. Because kung bakunado tayong lahat, mayroon tayong proteksyon. Even though assuming lang magkaroon tayo ng mataas na kaso gaya ng nangyari noon, ang mga kababayan natin noon ay bakunado na,” he said.

(This is why we are preparing, because we are focused on ramping up our vaccination now. Once we are fully vaccinated, we are protected. Even assuming that we have high cases just like before, our people are protected.)

He disclosed that the Philippine government expects 32 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses to arrive before December ends, raising the supply delivered to the country to around 200 million doses by then.

Latest government data showed that at least 42 million individuals are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country, while more than 55 million others have received their partial dose.

A total of 853,500 people have also received their boosters.

The country aims to fully vaccinate at least 54 million by the end of the year, to achieve population protection from the respiratory disease and also protect people from the impact of emerging variants.

• 2 million Sinovac shots from China arrive in Philippines

The Department of Health (DOH) earlier in the day reported the first imported cases of the more transmissible omicron variant in the country, just as Filipinos ramp up preparations for the holiday season.

— Job Manahan and Anjo Bagaoisan, ABS-CBN News

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