PH to receive 1.5M Sinovac doses, first batch arrives Sunday

Around 1.5 million doses of Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine are anticipated to reach the Philippines, with an initial 600,000 doses donated by the Chinese government expected to arrive on Sunday, February 28.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Sinovac vaccine, making it the third vaccine to receive such authorization in the country.

President Rodrigo Duterte intends to personally welcome the arrival of the 600,000 vaccine shots.

The rollout of the Sinovac vaccine is on hold as experts finalize recommendations on its use and allocation, pending official recommendation from the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) and approval by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).

About 100,000 doses from the initial batch are designated for soldiers, while the remainder will be distributed to other priority sectors, including medical frontliners.

The FDA recommends the vaccine for healthy individuals aged 18 to 59, noting an efficacy rate of 50.4% for health workers and 65.3% to 91.2% for those aged 18 to 59, which meets the World Health Organization's threshold.