The Philippines has bought 20 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to be used as booster shots, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Sunday.
In a virtual presser, Galvez said the government had already signed the supply agreement for the 20 million jabs.
He said these doses would be used as booster shots and for the inoculation of minors.
Currently, only health workers, senior citizens and immunocompromised individuals are eligible for booster-shot inoculation in the Philippines.
The country has ordered 60 million Pfizer doses to date. Its earlier order of 40 million vaccine shots from the US manufacturer is expected to start arriving in 2022.
“Ang ibang mga manufacturer ay ongoing po ang negotiation para ang 90 million na itinataon po natin for 2022 ay makukuha po natin,” Galvez said.
The Philippines has 35,557,409 fully vaccinated individuals as of Nov. 27.
About 175,000 individuals have been given booster shots. John Ezekiel J. Hirro