The Philippines is set to receive on Thursday its biggest COVID-19 vaccine shipment yet with the expected arrival of 3.2 million vaccines -- one million Sinovac jabs, and 2.2 million Pfizer doses.
The Sinovac shipment, arriving early morning Thursday, is part of government procurement while the Pfizer jabs, arriving late night Thursday, are courtesy of global vaccine sharing platform COVAX. The additional jabs are expected to boost supply as the country's inoculation program expands to economic frontliners.
The 3.2 million doses are part of the expected 10 million jabs arriving this June according to COVID-19 vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. Some 11 million more doses are expected to arrive in July, 17 million in August, and 15 to 20 million doses in September.
READ: Duterte Sees 'Light at the End of Tunnel' as Jabs Reach Economic Frontliners
Government is targeting to prioritize inoculation in the so-called NCR Plus 8 or major urban hubs: Metro Manila, Bulacan, Pampanga, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, Batangas, Cebu, and Davao.
There are an estimated 35 million economic frontliners in the urban hubs. They are fourth in the Philippines' vaccine priority list led by health workers, senior citizens, and persons with comorbidities.
As of June 7, a total of 1,604,260 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the Philippines according to the National Task Force against COVID 19.
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