Philippines receives additional Sinovac vaccines from China

MANILA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- China delivered an additional batch of Sinovac CoronaVac vaccines to the Philippines on Wednesday to support the Southeast Asian country's campaign against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Carlito Galvez, the chief implementer of the government's measures to combat COVID-19, received the fresh shipment of CoronaVac vaccines from China's Sinovac Biotech at the airport in Manila.

China was the first to deliver coronavirus vaccines to the Philippines. It donated the first batch of CoronaVac to Manila on Feb. 28, allowing the country to kick off its vaccination drive on March 1.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin said on Tuesday that his country and China have shown "excellent cooperation and solidarity" in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The Philippines is grateful for China's assistance to the country's public health response," he said in opening remarks during a webinar on China's experience in the fight against COVID-19.

As of Tuesday, the Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) said it administered more than 13.8 million doses of vaccines, with more than 3.9 million people having been fully vaccinated so far. The DOH aims to vaccinate up to 70 million people this year.

The Philippines has reported a total of 1,481,660 confirmed cases as of Tuesday, including 26,092 deaths.