MALACAÑANG said 600,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine will be arriving in the country on February 23, 2021.
Roque said 100,000 doses were donated by the Chinese government to the Department of National Defense (DND).
“Ang bakuna na Sinovac na galing sa China, nakaukit na sa bato ang pagdating. Ito ay sa 23 ng Pebrero,” Roque said in a press briefing.
The Sinovac vaccine is still awaiting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for emergency use in the Philippines.
Roque said, meanwhile, that the FDA has issued a compassionate use license for 10,000 doses of the Sinopharm, which were administered to members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG).
He said the families of the PSG personnel might also benefit from the vaccines.
Some PSG personnel earlier confirmed receiving the candidate vaccine developed by Sinopharm, a state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company.
National Task Force Against Covid-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon said delivery of the 117,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will be delayed. But it is expected to arrive within the month.
“‘Yung ating first 117,000 na Pfizer vaccines, nagkaroon ng kaunting delay dahil sa processing ng mga dokumento with the Covax facility and the World Health Organization,” Dizon said during the said briefing.
“Pero kampante tayo na darating ito sa mga susunod na linggo, within the month of February,” he added. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo / SunStar Philippines)