The Department of Health (DOH) and the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 said on Sunday (Dec. 12) they are continuously ensuring enough supplies of syringes, both the 0.3ml syringes (microsyringes) that are compatible with the Pfizer vaccine and 0.5ml auto-disable (AD) syringes for all other brands.
The two agencies said two batches of procurement through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have been undertaken, with the first batch of eight million 0.3ml syringes worth P29.1 million completed in October and paid for by 2020 savings.
The second batch, financed through the Asian Development Bank, consisted of 44 million syringes amounting to about P152.6 million — four million this month and the balance during the first quarter of 2022 due to a global supply shortage.
To date, 3,653,000 syringes out of the four million have been delivered and the rest are expected this week.
The 0.3 syringes of the two batches cost around P3.25 per piece or 6.5 U.S. cents, including the cost for logistics.
“Even with the delays in delivery of microsyringes, we made sure that we can still administer the Pfizer vaccines that we procured by using tuberculin syringes,” Sec. Vince Dizon, presidential adviser on COVID-19 Response, said in a news release.
“The government, local government units, and the private sector are working hard to increase our vaccine coverage to protect more Filipinos against COVID-19. Through our bayanihan, we achieved 2.82 million jabs in one day,” he added.
The DOH likewise procured 100 million pieces of 0.5ml AD syringes in April for P 2.38 per piece, from an initial approved budget of P2.50 per piece.
Thus, P2.38 per piece or 4.8 U.S. cents was used as the basis for the ongoing emergency procurement of another batch of 50 million pieces of 0.5ml AD syringes.
“We are continuously ensuring enough supplies of syringes for our COVID-19 vaccination program, noting that 0.3ml syringes are different from 0.5ml syringes, and as such would have varying prices,” lawyer Charade Mercado-Grande, Undersecretary of the Health Regulation Team, said.
“We assure the public that the DOH is continuously ensuring a sufficient stockpile of syringes and that processes to obtain these are consistent with the provisions of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Act,” she added.
Moderna vaccine offer
The NTF also clarified that the government has not refused any Moderna vaccine offer.
The Philippines received 3,000,060 Moderna vaccines from the U.S. through the COVAX Facility on Aug. 3.
“For the record, we have not rejected any Moderna vaccines that were offered to the Philippine government,” NTF chief and vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. said.
“These vaccines are essential in achieving our goal of providing additional protection to Filipinos against COVID-19. And it is towards saving more lives and defeating the pandemic that the whole government and the entire nation should work together,” he added
Galvez enjoined participation in the second leg of the National Vaccination Days from Dec. 15 to 17 by volunteering, promoting, or getting vaccinated.
“Let us live out the bayanihan spirit upang masigurado nating ligtas ang lahat at maipakita ang lakas ng buong Pilipinas,” he said. (DOH, NTF via PNA) – jlo
