LOOK: A fresh supply of COVID-19 vaccines for Central Visayas. 132, 000 doses of AstraZeneca and 29,250 doses of Pfizer’s BioNTech arrived at Mactan Cebu International Airport around 8 a.m. on Tuesday, May 11. | Photos courtesy of Radyo Pilipinas – Cebu
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Central Visayas on Tuesday, May 11, received a fresh supply of COVID-19 vaccines.
A total of 132,000 doses of AstraZeneca and 29,250 doses of Pfizer’s BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines arrived at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) around 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
The vaccines were immediately transported to the cold storage facility located inside the compound of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) in Cebu City.
Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, spokesperson of DOH-7, said most of the new batch of AstraZeneca vaccines will be used for the second dose of those who were already administered with the first dose of the same brand.
“Their second dose is due this week,” she said.
Loreche also said the over 29,000 doses of Pfizer’s BioNTech should only be transported and used within Cebu’s highly urbanized cities due to its temperature requirement. Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccines need to be stored at a temperature of -70 degrees Celsius.
Central Visayas has been allocated a total of 396,210 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including those that arrived on Tuesday.
“But we do not have any information yet (on the next batch of vaccines). We will wait for the central office to inform us on the arrival of vaccines, and also for the allocation,” added Loreche. / with reports from INQUIRER.net
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