MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines is expected to receive 600,000 doses of Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine this month, donated by China, a portion of which will be used to inoculate military personnel, a senior government official said on Thursday.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said at a regular news conference that the arrival of the vaccines on February 23 is certain, but they would not be administered without the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
To date, only vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and vaccines by Pfizer and BioNTech have been approved for emergency use in the country.
Roque said regulators have allowed the “compassionate use” of 10,000 doses of a vaccine developed by Sinopharm for the safety of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Roque said that 100,000 of the 600,000 doses of Sinovac will be given to soldiers and the rest to medical workers.
The Philippines plans to start its mass vaccination program using 117,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine obtained through the international COVAX vaccine sharing facility, which is also due to be delivered this month.
The Philippines has negotiated supply agreements with Moderna, Gamaleya, Janssen, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Novavax for 148 million doses of coronavirus vaccines, most of which are expected to arrive in the second and third quarters of this year.
This year’s goal is to inoculate 70 million adults, or two-thirds of the country’s 108 million inhabitants, to obtain collective immunity.
The Philippines recorded 541,000 infections, including 11,400 deaths.
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales and Karen Lema; Editing by Martin Petty)