THE Philippines is finally set to acquire bivalent coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccines.

This as the first batch of bivalent Covid-19 vaccines will be arriving Saturday night, June 3, 2023, the Department of Health (DOH) said.

"This is to inform you about the expected arrival of the donated bivalent Covid-19 vaccines tonight, June 3, 2023 at around 10 p.m.," said the DOH.

It said that a total of 391,000 doses donated by an unidentified country will be arriving in the country.

"As soon as the vaccines arrive, these will be facilitated for transport to different regions and operating units for implementation and rollout," said the DOH.

Earlier, the DOH said the bivalent jabs are set to be used as third booster shots for healthcare workers (A1) and senior citizens (A2).

It said that eligible to get the third booster shots are those who got their second booster dose at least four to six months ago.

Based on the latest DOH data, there were already 674,471 healthcare workers that have been given second booster shots.

Among senior citizens, there were already 970,020 administered with second booster shots.

Bivalent jabs are said to provide better protection against Covid-19 as they contain components of the Omicron variant and subvariants. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)