MORE than 860,000 doses of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and procured by the government arrived in the Philippines Wednesday night, November 10, 2021.
The shipment of 866,970 Pfizer vaccine doses arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 via Air Hong Kong flight and this brought to 118,112,370 the total Covid-19 vaccine doses delivered to the country since February this year.
Aside from the Pfizer doses, three million jabs of government-procured Sinovac vaccine, as well as 793,900 doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine donated by Germany through Covax arrived in the country on Tuesday (November 9) and Wednesday morning (November 10), respectively.
With the shipments, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Thursday, November 11, that there is no more reason for Filipinos to delay their vaccination, stressing that the country has sufficient supply of vaccines.
“Marami na po tayong supply. Wala na pong dahilan para magsabi na wala na pong bakuna o kulang ang bakuna kaya hindi nagpapabakuna. Ano man ang brand, ligtas at epektibo lahat na ibinigay nating bakuna dahil lahat po yan ay pumasa hindi lang po sa ating FDA, pati na rin sa World Health Organization,” he said in a press briefing Thursday, November 11.
(We have enough supply. No reason now for you to say that we don’t have vaccines or we lack supply just to avoid the vaccination. The vaccines are safe and effective regardless of the brand, as they all passed the screening of the FDA and World Health Organization.)
Roque added that the country will continue to ramp its vaccination rollout across the country to achieve herd immunity by the end of 2021, and one way to do this is through the holding of National Vaccination Days on November 29 to December 1 nationwide.
“November 30 is Heroes Day, at tinuturing ng ating Pangulo na lahat ng magpapabakuna ay bayani po sa araw na ito,” said Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp) Assistant Secretary Wilben Mayor.
Mayor also pointed out that the Philippine economy has expanded as evidenced by the 7.1 growth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter.
“Ikinagagalak po natin base sa nabanggit ni [Neda] Secretary Karl Chua ay nag-expand ang ating gross domestic product by 7.1 percent,” Mayor, who is also the National Task Force against Covid-19’s head of strategic communications on current operations, said in a interview following the arrival of Pfizer vaccines Wednesday.
He also noted that the positivity rate of Covid-19 cases in the country is now below five percent.
“Sa pamamagitan nito, nakikita natin na ang pandemic rate response po ay
tama although its a gradual response. But again, nakikita natin na mayroon pong pagbabago at papunta tayo sa maayos na sitwasyon,” he said.
As of November 10, a total of 66,816,976 vaccine doses have been administered nationwide, of which 36,337,059 were given as first dose and 30,479,917 as complete doses. (SunStar Philippines)