By J. Jala | 05:23 PM February 28, 2021
600,000 Sinovac doses donated by the Chinese government arrived in the Philippines on Sunday, February 28, 2021. Photo: Chinese Embassy in Manila
The Philippines on Sunday received the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines developed by Chinese biopharmaceutical company
Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
At least 600,000 Sinovac doses donated by the Chinese government arrive, the first to arrive in the Philippines and will be used to start the mass vaccination campaign.
President Rodrigo Duterte led the Philippine government in receiving the first shipment of vaccines to the country onboard a Chinese military plane at the Villamor Air Base (VAB) in Pasay City on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021.
Duterte viewed the crate containing the vaccine doses and also inspects the actual vaccine vials during the ceremonial turnover of the CoronaVac donations to the government.
Sinovac’s CoronaVac is the third COVID-19 vaccine brand, aside from Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca, granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) by the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
From Villamor Air Base, the vaccines were transported in at least six (6) 40-footer trucks going to its cold chain storage facilities that include the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) and the Metropac Logistics in Marikina City.
