The Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday the 7,500 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines returned by health authorities in Bicol to the DOH headquarters can still be used.
“We have yet to receive the official report on this, but preliminary findings show that the temperature device was faulty and the vaccines remain in usable condition,” the DOH said in a statement.
According to reports, at least 7,500 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines were returned to the DOH office this week because of a storage problem. DOH Bicol- Emergency Response and Infectious Disease Director Dr. Lulu Santiago said the doses were stored in containers with defective thermometers.
She explained that upon the arrival of three transport boxes containing 7,500 vials of vaccine each, one of them had a very high temperature reading.
“Malamig naman ‘yung isang box, pero ‘yung nasa temperature monitoring, nasa [One box was cold, but the temperature monitor showed] 436.6 degrees Celsius,” she said in an interview with PTV News.
Like some other COVID-19 vaccines, AstraZeneca vaccines require storage at temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius.
Health Spokesperson Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said “investigation has been done” regarding the issue in transporting the vaccines to the region.
In a statement, Senator Nancy Binay expressed her concern over the matter, saying “given the shortage of vaccines, these kinds of mishandling are totally unacceptable.”
The returned 7,500 doses were among the 22,000 vaccines that arrived in the region for inoculating healthcare workers.
Meanwhile, Santiago added that upon learning of the situation with the faulty thermometer, they immediately notified the DOH Central Office and also Pharmaserve, DOH’s logistics partner.
DOH-Bicol held the vaccines in a cold-chain storage facility while waiting for instructions. Yesterday, the vaccines were sent back to the central office in Manila.
“The mishandling of the vaccines was not DOH-Bicol’s fault. We do our job, we check it. And upon checking, it’s not acceptable for us, kaya tinanggihan natin,” Santiago said.
Meanwhile, DOH-Bicol has noted a 14% spike in COVID-19 cases this past week, bringing the number of active cases in the region to 117.
Santiago said this surge may be attributed to the public’s laxity in observing health and safety protocols.
“Sa ngayon, iyan ang ating inaaksiyonan. Nag-iissue tayo ng advisories at paalala sa mga Bicolano, na kahit maraming tao na ang nabakunahan na, kailangan pa rin nating sumunod sa minimum health protocols,” she said.
[We are acting on this. We have issued advisories and reminders to the Bicolanos, that even if many people have been vaccinated, we still need to observe the minimum health protocols.]
She also emphasized the important role of the Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams or BHERTs in controlling COVID cases in the region.
“Dapat maging vigilante ang ating mga BHERT sa paghanap ng mga dumarating na returning residents sa Bicol, dahil sila lang din naman ang nakakaalam kung sino ang mga bagong dating sa kanilang barangay,” she added.
[Our BHERTs should be vigilant in monitoring the residents returning to Bicol, because they are the only ones who know who the new arrivals are in their barangays.]
To date, Bicol Region has inoculated at least 12,000 of their medical workers with Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines.
Based on DOH data, as of March 23 the country has inoculated 508,332 individuals with the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 98.21% or 1,105,500 of the 1,125,600 available doses have been distributed to vaccination sites across the country.
Meanwhile, following reports of some officials and personalities allegedly jumping the line for vaccination amid the supply shortage of vaccines, the DOH urged the public to report such incidents to the Health Facilities and Services Regulatory Bureau through its hotline, 8651-7800 local 2527. – Mark Fetalco and Ken Bornilla
