BOC pre-clears additional 500,000 Sinovac doses

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500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Sinovac Biotech Ltd. arrived from China on April 11. Photo from Bureau of Customs.
  • The Bureau of Customs cleared and released through its advance clearance process the latest 500,000 doses of vaccine from Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
  • Prior to arriving on April 11, the shipment of vaccines underwent pre-arrival clearance on April 9 through BOC-Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s One-Stop Shop
  • The latest batch is part of the 1.5 million vaccine doses that Sinovac has committed to deliver to the Philippines this April

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has cleared and released through its advance clearance process the latest 500,000 doses of vaccine from Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech Ltd.

Prior to its arrival on April 11, the shipment of vaccines underwent pre-arrival clearance on April 9 through BOC-Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s (BOC-NAIA) One-Stop Shop, BOC said in a statement.

The latest batch is part of the 1.5 million vaccine doses that Sinovac has committed to deliver to the Philippines this April. Another 1 million doses already arrived in the country last March. The vaccines are part of the 25 million doses the country has procured from the Chinese company, excluding the 1 million doses the company had donated in February and March.

BOC said it has so far cleared and released over 3.02 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine imported by the Department of Health (DOH).

Upon arrival, the latest shipment of Sinovac vaccines was immediately transferred to the Metropac facility to ensure the integrity and security of the vaccines prior to distribution across the nation.

National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. earlier said the succeeding deliveries of Sinovac vaccines would be arriving monthly.

Around 1.5 to 2 million doses would be delivered by April, another 2 million doses by May, another 4.5 million doses by June, and 3 million doses by July.

Galvez said these monthly deliveries would continue in the third and fourth quarters of the year until the manufacturer had shipped all 25 million Sinovac doses to the country.

The procurement of Sinovac vaccines is being done through a monthly purchase order handled by the Department of Health using its appropriated funds for 2021.

The delivery of other government-procured vaccines will begin in April.

Customs commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero had said BOC would continue to prepare for the expected influx of COVID-19 vaccines and ensure their swift processing, clearance and release.

BOC-NAIA district collector Carmelita Talusan added their collection district would continue active coordination and cooperation with concerned government agencies to further streamline and improve clearance processes of vaccines and related medical goods.