The Philippines now has more than 2.5 million Covid-19 vaccine doses after the first batch of Sinovac vaccine doses purchased by the Philippine government arrived on Monday.
The shipment containing one million Sinovac doses arrived at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay at about 5 p.m.
Ongoing Phase 3 trials of Sinovac showed efficacy rates ranging from 65.3 to 91.2 percent for clinically healthy members of the community aged 18 to 59.
It was found to be less effective when administered to healthcare workers exposed to Covid-19.
Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine is one of the four vaccines approved for emergency use in the Philippines by the Food and Drug Administration.
To date, 600,000 healthcare workers have been inoculated in the Philippines.
According to Palace spokesman Harry Roque, the 1 million Sinovac doses cost P700 million.
These will be used to inoculate more health workers in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Cebu City and Davao City—areas with high numbers of Covid-19 cases. John Ezekiel J. Hirro