The country will receive over 3 million doses of Sinovac and Pfizer vaccines against COVID-19 this week, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.
Some 562,770 Pfizer vaccines arrived Wednesday evening, bringing to 3.043 million the total doses procured from the US pharmaceutical giant.
The doses were brought to a facility in Marikina City operated by Pharmaserv Express, which will keep it under ultra-low storage temperature before the vials are distributed across the country.
Pfizer vaccines need to be stored at negative 70 to negative 80 degrees Celsius temperature.
Roque said the shipment is part of the 40 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines the government bought from Pfizer, the biggest supply deal entered into by the government for the life-saving jabs.
Roque said some 1.5 million doses from Sinovac are also expected to arrive today (Thursday) while another 1 million will be delivered on Friday.
As of July 20, 2021, at least 5 million Filipinos or 7.19 percent of the population have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
About 10.5 million others or 15.12 percent of the population received their first dose.
The government initially targeted vaccinating 60 percent to 70 percent of the population or about 70 million people to achieve herd immunity.
However, the tight global vaccine supply has forced health experts to shift the target toward population protection, which entails vaccinating 58 million people in highly urbanized areas.
The OCTA Research Group said population protection in the National Capital Region can be achieved by September if the government continues giving priority to the NCR Plus 8 areas in its COVID-19 vaccination program.
The NCR Plus 8 is composed of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Batangas, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao.
