US delivers 40 million Pfizer vaccines in 2021 

The delivery of 609,570 doses of Pfizer BioNTech vaccines on Thursday night, December 30, completed the Philippine government’s contract with the U.S. vaccine maker for the procurement of 40 million COVID-19 jabs this year.

This, according to National Task Force Against COVID-19 special adviser Dr. Teodoro Herbosa who welcomed the arrival of Pfizer vaccines.

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“This last shipment, ladies and gentlemen, completes the procurement of the Philippine government for the year 2021. So we have landed in the Philippines [more than] 210 million doses of vaccines,” Herbosa said.

A total of 210,633,110 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in the country since February.

Of this number, about 114 million were procured by the national government, 22.5 million were purchased by the private sector and LGUs, while the rest were donated from the COVAX facility and partner countries.

Herbosa thanked the U.S. government for facilitating the timely delivery of the Pfizer vaccines to the country, adding that America also directly donated over 26 million doses to the Philippines.

“It’s an honor to be a small part of the solution to this horrible pandemic here in the Philippines and to see that the IATF and all the officials handle it so well,” Michael William Leach, U.S. Embassy consul officer said.

According to Herbosa, the arrival of the Pfizer vaccines is crucial, as he noted that new COVID-19 cases in the country are rising.

He then reminded unvaccinated individuals to get their primary doses of the vaccines as soon as possible, as well as the booster shot if already eligible.

“These Pfizer vaccines will be very useful for booster doses, for those who were vaccinated three months ago. Those who received their second dose last September are now qualified to get their booster doses with their local government units,” Herbosa said.

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“We want everybody to celebrate the new year safely. We had a high increase of cases the past 7-days. We do hope that people will be more careful, as we greet the new year and say goodbye to 2021 and meet 2022,” he added.