A total of 362,700 doses of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine arrived in the country on Aug. 25, as more life-sa-ving shots are expected to be delivered in the coming weeks that would ensure stable supply until yearend.
Air Hong Kong flight LD456 carried some 262,080 doses, which were then transported to the PharmaServ Express cold chain storage facility in Marikina City.
Asec. Wilben Mayor, head of the National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) sub-task force on current operations, said the Food and Drug Administration is now in talks with Pfizer-BioNTech about its application for the full approval for their Covid-19 vaccine.
“FDA has already coordinated with Pfizer for the submission of the necessary documents for that purpose,” he said.
The United States FDA granted full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine for people 16 years old and up on Aug. 23, the first for a Covid-19 shot.
Mayor said the latest Pfizer vaccine would be deployed in Covid-19 high-risk and vulnerable areas such as the National Capital Region and Region 4-A (Calabarzon) under the vaccination program’s “focus and expand” strategy.
“Though meron na tayo ngayong tinatawag na from the spot, nagkakaroon agad ng inoculation. Dinadala na agad sa area and pagdating ini-inject na kaagad ,” Mayor said.
The deployment of the highly sensitive vaccine, he added, will depend on the handling capacity of the local government units since it requires a temperature of -80°C to -60°C prior to dilution.
“But, again, we leave it to the Vaccine Cluster to decide on whether which particular area they will distribute or allocate this Pfizer vaccine,” he said.
The government procured 2,472,210 doses of Pfizer vaccine and 2,479,239 doses were acquired through the Covax facility.
The latest shipment brings the country’s total number of Covid-19 vaccines to 48,885,590 doses. – PNA
April 23, 2024
