FLAG carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) will transport Sinovac vaccines to Cebu City and Davao City on Tuesday, March 2, 2021.
In a social media post, PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said there will be 7,200 doses (placed in 12 boxes) for Cebu City and 12,000 doses (placed in 20 boxes) for Davao City.
She said the vaccines arrived at PAL's international cargo terminal in Pasay City at 6 p.m. Monday, March 1, from the cold storage facility in Marikina City.
The vaccines were part of the 600,000 doses donated by China, which arrived in the Philippines on February 28.
“Upon arrival of the PAL flights in Cebu and Davao, the vaccines will be loaded into cold storage vans for distribution to several hospitals and health facilities,” Villaluna said.
“PAL is honored to be of service to the nation,” she added.
First priority will be given to healthcare workers at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City and Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City.
The Sinovac vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is administered in two doses four weeks apart to clinically healthy individuals who are 18 to 59 years old.
PAL and Macro Asia also provided ground handling support during the arrival of the vaccines on February 28 at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.
They handled the towing of the Chinese military transport aircraft into the parking bay of Kalayaan Hall of Villamor Air Base and the unloading and transfer of the vaccines to cold storage trucks. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)