Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said the vaccines coming from the World Health Organization’s COVAX facility are now on their way to the Philippines.
Some 487,200 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines will be flying from Belgium to the Philippines, according to Galvez in an interview on CNN Philippines.
Galvez said the vaccines are expected to arrive in the country on Thursday night. “We have information na lumipad na po yung eroplano and we’re confirming that it will arrive at 7:30 p.m.,” Galvez added.
“Ang pagkakaalam namin is from their Belgium warehouse,” he added.
The vaccine czar said that President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to welcome the arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccines like what he did during the arrival of China’s Sinovac vaccines.
The Philippines initially was set to receive 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca on Monday but were delayed due to logistics problems.
When asked about why the number of doses decreased, Galvez said that this can be attributed to the packaging of the vaccines.
“Meron tayong packaging requirement. May restrictions po tayo sa packages. May flexibility ang logistics, na hindi fixed ang ating vials. Considering it is commercial, kaya baka may limits sa cargo. 400,000 plus doses, pero initial pa lang to,” he said.
