THE Philippines has received over 3.5 million more doses of Sinovac vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) on Wednesday morning, November 17, 2021.
The 3,530,400 vaccine doses procured by the government through the Asian Development Bank (ADB) arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 around 7 a.m.
National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said a total of 54 million doses of Chinese-manufactured vaccines, which included two million doses donated by its government, have been delivered to the country.
He said these doses comprise more than 40 percent of the country’s total vaccine supply.
"With the arrival of these CoronaVac jabs, we are moving closer to our goal of reaching a daily vaccination rate of 1.5 million doses and achieving the population protection by year-end," said Galvez during the arrival of the vaccines.
He also thanked China for its continuous support of the country’s vaccination program.
Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian said the delivery of the vaccines will further boost the country’s vaccination program and help in the continuous decrease of Covid-19 cases in the country.
On Tuesday, November 16, the Department of Health (DOH) recorded only 849 fresh Covid-19 infections, the lowest daily cases reported since December 2020.
There were a total of 25,464 active Covid-19 cases in the country from the 2,819,341 total cases logged in the country since 2020.
A total of 45,808 individuals died of Covid-19 in the country while 2,748,069 recovered.
As of November 15, a total of 31.5 million individuals or 40.93 percent of the target population have completed their vaccination, while over 38 million received the first dose.
The DOH has started on Wednesday the administration of booster shots to fully vaccinated healthcare workers.