MORE JABS. A Department of Health personnel guides the forklift operator carrying boxes of the newly arrived Pfizer vaccine acquired through the COVAX Facility, at NAIA Terminal 3 in Pasay City on Thursday (Sept. 2, 2021). The Bureau of Customs said it has a cleared a total of 839,870 doses of Pfizer vaccine that arrived in the country this week. (PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler)

MANILA - The Bureau of Customs office at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (BOC-NAIA) said Friday it has cleared two shipments of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine amounting to 839,870 doses that arrived in the country this week.

In a statement, the bureau reported that the cargoes, consisting of 651,500 doses and 188,370 doses, arrived on September 1 and 2, respectively.

The first shipment, which arrived at NAIA Terminal 3 via Air Hong Kong Flight No. LD457 at about 9:20 p.m. on Wednesday, underwent an advance clearance process on August 31 through the One-Stop Shop of Customs NAIA to ensure its prompt release and delivery.

National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) chief implementer, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.; Department of Health Supply Chain Management Service Director, Dr. Ariel Valencia; and US Embassy in Manila Charge d'Affaires John Law welcomed the arrival of the shipment.

Underguarding duties were also done by Customs-NAIA CoVax Special Handling Task Force and other enforcement agencies until delivery to the Pharmaserv Cold Storage Facility and the Southern Philippines Medical Center - Davao.

Meanwhile, the second batch of Pfizer vaccine doses arrived via DHL Express Flight LD 456 at around 10 p.m. on Thursday.

To date, the BOC has cleared 88 shipments of Covid-19 vaccines that arrived in the country since February 28, composed of eight vaccine brands with more than 52 million total doses processed and released.

These brands are Sinovac with 29.5 million doses; AstraZeneca, 8.43 million; Pfizer, 5.84 million; Moderna, 4.3 million; Johnson & Johnson, 3.24 million; Sinopharm, 1 million; Sputnik V, 380,000; and Hayat-Vax, 100,000.

It also reported that since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the BOC has cleared 16,015 shipments of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as face masks, face shields, test kits, and various medical equipment.

Of this number, 9,815 were released by the port, accounting for 61.3 percent of the total PPE shipments cleared by the bureau. (PNA)