By Alec Go
One of the officials leading the country’s pandemic response said the government is confident to administer COVID-19 vaccines before their expiration.
This was the response of National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. regarding the reported expiration of 400,000 Moderna vaccines this November.
Galvez said they have already cataloged vaccines that will expire this month until the first quarter of 2022.
“Sa ngayon, ang naka-catalogue sa amin is dalawang vaccine – iyong Moderna at saka iyong AstraZeneca… Na-deploy na po natin iyong Moderna na nakuha ng ating private sector, nailipat na po sa government sector,” he said.
“Nai-loan po namin iyon at papalitan lang po iyon kapag mayroong dumating na mga matataas na shelf life na Moderna,” he added.
He said the AstraZeneca vaccines are being deployed in other regions, including Region IV-A.
“Kumpiyansa po kami na kaya po nating maturok po iyong mga bakuna na ito bago po mag-expire. At mayroon pa po tayong more or less 22 days to exhaust all our means na mabakuna po ito sa lahat ng mga taong nangangailangan,” he said.
Wastage
The official said the country’s vaccine wastage is “very minimal” at more or less 162,000 doses since the rollout began in February.
It can be recalled that more than 148,000 vaccine doses were damaged in a fire in Zamboanga del Sur after a fire hit the province’s health office.
Read more: Over 100-K COVID-19 vax damaged in Zamboanga fire
The other affected vaccines were due to breakage, brownouts, and defects.
“Iyong iba po, hindi po nagkaroon ng continuity iyong tinatawag nating cold chain solution. And then mayroon din po mga tinatawag nating mga defects, iyong mga broken vials at the same time. Iyong tinatawag natin sa packaging, nakita natin na mayroong hindi maganda iyong temperature,” he said.
The Philippines has already administered 64,195,936 doses as of Nov. 7, 2021. – bny
Watch the full interview here:
