MANILA, Philippines — A million doses of Chinese pahramaceutical firm Sinovac's vaccines reached Manila on Monday, marking the arrival of the first batch of COVID-19 jabs that the government secured through a purchase agreement. The million doses, which cost P700 million, is so far the only procurement the administration has made nearly four months into 2021 and a month since inoculation efforts began. This would mean that to date, only a small portion of the P72.5 billion funding that Congress approved for vaccine purchase has been spent. Before the arrival of the purchased Sinovac, all of the Philippines' jabs supply were donations from Beijing and from the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility. The health department said too that 2,494 sites are now administering the jabs to health workers, with 1,233,500 doses distributed.

Source: Philippine Star March 29, 2021 09:22 UTC