PASAY CITY — The latest shipment of Sinovac vaccines containing 1.5 million doses will be deployed to various regions across the country.

This was according to Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr., Chief Implementer of National Task Force against COVID 19 and vaccine czar, and Henry Lim Bon Liong, president of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) during the arrival of the vaccines on June 17, Thursday.

Of this newest batch of Sinovac vaccines, one million doses were procured by the national government and 500,000 shots were purchased by FFCCCII.

According to Galvez, provinces and cities with “emerging and surging cases” of COVID 19 will be among the major recipients of the one million Sinovac doses.

He said the government will focus on high-risk areas in Visayas and Mindanao, particularly in Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Sur, General Santos, Dipolog, Cotabato City, Iloilo, Bacolod, Negros, Ormoc, Northern Samar, and Tacloban.

Some areas in Luzon, such as Isabela and Region IV-A, will also be included in the priority list of vaccine recipients.

Meanwhile, Bon Liong said that 50% of the Federation’s supply will be distributed to provinces such as Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, Iloilo, and Dagupan. The remaining supply will be deployed in Metro Manila.

FFCCCII’s Vice President Cecilio Pedro said, “The key here is to help the Filipino-Chinese community and all trabahador namin sa probinsya. We employ so many workers, so many people are affected by this virus and we have to reach out to them. Ito ay pagtulong namin sa government.”

Galvez said the government is excited with the arrival of the first batch of private sector-procured vaccines.

“We are very happy at sunud-sunod na ‘yan dahil sa June 25 darating na ang Moderna and then July darating na rin ‘yung orders na more or less 1.17 million doses ng Astrazeneca for other conglomerates,” said Galvez.

“Ito na ‘yung effort ng private sector to help the government to produce the national volume. We thank the FFCCCII because they initiated this, and the Filipino-Chinese community is very persistent to help us,” he added.

The Federation’s chairman emeritus Ambassador Francis Chua thanked the national government, particularly Galvez and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, for “initiating” a tripartite agreement with the private sector that has allowed local business firms and groups to purchase vaccines for their staff and employees.

“Without them [Galvez and Duque], there will be no arrival [of vaccines]. Believe me, it’s not easy. It’s so painstaking,” said Chua.

Vaccines to be shipped out pending Certificate of Analysis 

According to Duque, the vaccine supplies will be immediately deployed to the recipient provinces and cities even if the government is still waiting for the vaccines’ Certificate of Analysis (COA), which is expected to arrive in three to four days.

“Instructions were given to regional [DOH] that the only time they’ll start using those doses is when the COA arrives,” said Duque.

The government is employing a more aggressive strategy to ensure the faster and more efficient deployment of the vaccines to the identified areas.

“The goal is herd immunity, but the intermediate milestone is really population protection in [the] geographical setting,” Duque added.

The COA is a document issued by the manufacturer that certifies that the vaccines received by the country are of good quality and have the same specifications with the doses that have been granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).

This document is a prerequisite prior to the administration of the vaccines. It is a specific requirement for Sinovac vaccines.

Moreover, Duque said that the vaccine rollout of FFCCCII’s procured doses “will still follow the prioritization formula framework of the national government starting with the priority group A1.”

To date a total of 14,205, 870 vaccine doses have arrived in the country, which are now being administered among the priority sectors. END