The Philippine government received its first shipment of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines on Sunday night.
The 249,600 doses arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3. This is the first batch of Moderna vaccines to arrive in the country.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez personally welcomed the vaccines at the NAIA.
Health Undersecretary Carol Tanio, US Embassy economic counselor David Gamble Jr., International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) executive vice president Christian Martin Gonzalez, and officials of Zuellig Pharma were also present.
Around 150,000 doses of the Moderna vaccines were procured by the government and the remaining 99,600 doses were purchased by the private sector led by ICTSI.
The National Task Force against COVID-19 said that the government is still expecting 20 million doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
An estimated 13 million doses will go to the government while the remaining 7 million doses to the private sector.
Moderna vaccine has an efficacy rate of 94% on human trials and can be administered to those people aged 18 and above.
