The delivery of the Philippines' first batch of COVID-19 vaccines from U.S. drugmaker Moderna Inc. has been pushed back again due to logistical issues.
In a media briefing, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said that the arrival of 250,000 doses which was originally scheduled on June 21 will be moved to Friday, June 25 instead.
"It's only four days delayed and normal naman 'yan sa lahat ng vaccines natin, nagkakaroon ng mga delays na hindi natin maiiwasan," Galvez said.
This will be the first shipment of the Moderna vaccine to the country.
Galvez added that one million more doses from the US firm are expected to arrive in July, while two million will be shipped by September.
The Philippines procured at least 20 million doses of the Moderna vaccine. Of this number, 13 million were paid for by the national government while seven million were paid for by the private sector.
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the efficacy rate of the Moderna vaccine among some groups is less than 94% and is consistently above 80% to persons aged 18 and above, and special groups including healthcare workers, people with comorbidities, and the elderly.
