National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer and Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr. expressed hope on Tuesday that AstraZeneca vaccines under the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility would arrive by the end of April.

In a televised press briefing, Galvez said that this was what WHO Representative in the Philippines Rabindra Abeyasinghe told them.

"We have seen that there's really a problem in what we call as global supply even in India, Europe or even the US. So, we are really doing everything, we have the diplomatic relations, to produce AstraZeneca vaccine," he said.

The government decided earlier to use all the AstraZeneca vaccine doses as first shots for healthcare workers and senior citizens. The AstraZeneca vaccine doses in the country were delivered last month under COVAX facility.

"We are hoping to get (AstraZeneca vaccine) considering that we have procurement (of such vaccine)," Galvez said, referring to the tripartite deal the the private sector and local government units entered into with AstraZeneca. Half of the private sector purchased vaccine will be donated to the national government.

"And rest assured that we will do our best to get the second dose of 525,600 doses. What Dr. Rabi said (AstraZeneca vaccine) may arrive by end of April," Galvez added.

Galvez said that for this month, the government expects the delivery of 1.5 million doses of Sinovac vaccine from China and 500,000 doses of Sputnik V of Gamaleya from Russia.

So far, he said the government has administered vaccine to about 854,063 individuals, including 789,415 healthcare workers.

Galvez and NTF Deputy Chief Implementer Vivencio Dizon, who were among the first government officials who were allowed to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, had their second jab on March 29.

The two officials said they did not experience any side effect after their second shot, except for feeling sleepy. Celerina Monte/DMS