More than 2.5 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines that will expire in June and July have already been distributed with only few being left unadministered, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday (June 14).
Of these, 100,000 doses need to be used soon before their expiration dates.
According to DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, 10% of the target population have already received COVID-19 jabs and to achieve population protection, vaccination of the indigent population or the A5 priority group should also be conducted.
“Ito naman ay allowed na, pero it will depend on the supplies. So if local governments — nakikita nila na kaya na, base sa kanilang allocation, and then they can do it naman,” she said in a virtual forum.
Meanwhile, more than two million doses of Pfizer vaccines that arrived last week have already been distributed.
Of these, 60% were allocated to areas with a moderate to high risk of COVID-19 cases such as the NCR (National Capital Region) Plus 8 areas.
Moreover, the DOH is set to deploy the additional two million doses of CoronaVac vaccines upon the receipt of their Certificate of Analysis (COA).
“We cannot distribute or transport these vaccines to specific recipients ng mga regions at mga local governments kung hindi kumpleto ang dokumento namin, so inaantay naming lumabas at mapadala sa amin ang COA na ito para kami ay makapagdistribute ng Sinovac,” Vergeire said.
The DOH also reported that 98% of the COVID-19 vaccine supply has already been deployed to different parts of the country. – Report from Mark Fetalco / CF-jlo
