The Philippines received another shipment of United States-donated Covid-19 vaccines with the arrival of 168,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) jabs on Tuesday.
Overall, 12,905,660 doses of the single-dose jab manufactured by Janssen Pharmaceuticals have been donated to the country — 3,420,860 by the US government through the COVAX Facility and 9,484,800 from COVAX itself.
Dr. Paz Corrales, National Task Force Against Covid-19 medical consultant, said the latest donation is another boost to help end the pandemic.
“We thank the US government for donating the J&J vaccines through the COVAX Facility. It’s a big help especially now that we have increasing cases of Covid 19 case maybe because of the Omicron variant,” she said in an interview after the arrival of the vaccines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 in Pasay City via Emirates Flight EK 332.
Corrales said with the continuous arrival of vaccines, there is no reason not to avail of protection against severe infections and even death.
“Everyone should go to vaccination sites,” she added.
Corrales likewise added to the continuous reminders for the public to strictly follow health protocols.
“Let’s go back to complying with minimum health standards, frequent hand washing, wearing of mask, maybe voluntarily wearing of face shields and then social distancing, and of course, to get vaccinated,” she said.
The total number of delivered vaccines, both procured and donated, has reached 213,655,520. (PNA)