WHO confirms arrival of AstraZeneca vaccines in PH

BY ANALOU C. DE VERA

An official of the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the arrival of the initial doses of AstraZeneca coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine to the Philippines on Thursday.

“Today marks the first delivery of vaccines from the COVAX facility to the Philippines,” said WHO representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe in a press briefing hosted by the Department of Health (DoH).

The delivery of the initial doses of AstraZeneca vaccine were supposed to arrive last Monday, March 1, but was delayed because of logistical concerns.

As the Philippines is expected to increase its number of vaccines against the viral illness, Abeyasinghe reminded the public to still adhere to the minimum public health standards.

“We need to continue to work. We are stronger than before because we have the vaccine in our arsenal,” said the WHO official.

“But again, I want to emphasize that the arrival of vaccines does not give us the opportunity to drop the behaviors we adopted from the beginning of the pandemic namely the physical distancing, face mask wearing, hand washing, cough etiquette, avoid of congested and closed settings,” he added.