DAVAO CITY — The Bureau of Customs Port of NAIA cleared two shipments of Covid-19 vaccines in two consecutive days. 1.5 million doses of Sinovac vaccines, which arrived May 7, 2021 via Flight No. 5J 671 from China .
The agency also cleared 2,030,400 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, which arrived on May 8, 2021 via Flight No. SQ 910 from Netherlands.
Both shipments underwent Customs pre-clearance processes prior to their arrival and facilitated through the NAIA One Stop Shop. Upon arrival, the Covid-19 vaccines were immediately expedited and underguarded by BOC Covax Special Handling Team to Pharmaserv Cold Storage Facility in Marikina City.
The arrival of AstraZeneca vaccines at 1:00 PM, May 8, 2021, Saturday, was witnessed by Vaccine Czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., Department of Health Sec. Francisco Duque III, Testing Czar Sec. Vince Dizon, U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires John C. Law, U.S. Embassy Environment, Science, Technology and Health Officer Claire Bea, World Health Organization rep. Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, Unicef PH rep. Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov, United Nations rep. Gustavo Gonzales, Usec. Robert Borje and BOC NAIA District Collector Talusan.
The Bureau of Customs, under the leadership of Commissioner Guerrero, will continue to support the government’s COVID-19 inoculation program and shall actively coordinate with the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) for the effective and efficient processing, facilitation, release, handling and delivery of imported Covid-19 vaccines, medicines and other related goods.
BOC NAIA District Collector Carmelita Talusan and BOC team will continue to assist in the expeditious clerarance of all time sensitive vaccines arriving in the country.-pr
