500,000 Sinovac doses arrive in the Philippines

(UPDATE) - Half a million doses of CoronaVac, the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac BioTech, arrived in the Philippines Thursday morning.

This is the fourth delivery of Sinovac vaccines from Beijing to the Philippines, bringing the total of deliveries to 3.5 million doses. The delivery came a day after President Rodrigo Duterte said the Philippines owes a debt of gratitude to China for its donation of 1 million doses.

The latest 500,000 doses, which arrived at NAIA Terminal 2 at 7:05 a.m. on Cebu Pacific flight 5J671, were procured by the Philippine government. 

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said the vaccines will be brought to the MetroPac facility in Marikina before being distributed all over the country. 

Another 500,000 Sinovac doses will be delivered to the Philippines early Friday, said Philippine Ambassador to China Chito Sta. Romana.

A team from the Philippine Embassy had inspected the jabs at Sinovac's facility in Daxing, Beijing earlier this week and "more shipments of vaccines are scheduled in May," he said.

The government had said it secured a total of 25 million doses of CoronaVac vaccines.

The country expects to receive some 140 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of this year, excluding 44 million from the COVAX facility, according to Galvez.

Up to 70 million are targeted for vaccination this year to achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus.

Duterte earlier said the Philippines owes a debt of gratitude to China for donating 1 million COVID-19 shots to the Philippines. This, amid criticism that Chinese vessels have been spotted in the West Philippine Sea. 

“I’m stating it for the record, we do not want war with China. China is a good friend. Mayroon tayong utang na loob na marami, pati iyong bakuna natin,” he said in a pre-recorded speech.

(We have a huge debt of gratitude, even for our vaccine. But there are things that are not really subject to a compromise. I hope they will understand.)

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/29/21/500000-sinovac-doses-arrive-in-the-philippines