AstraZeneca vaccines eyed for senior citizen healthcare workers — Galvez

Philippine vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Thursday said COVID-19 vaccines from AztraZeneza, which are expected to arrive later in the day, are being considered to be allocated for senior citizen healthcare workers.

Interviewed on Super Radyo dzBB, Galvez said the emergency use authorization for AstraZeneca includes people 19 years old and above.

“Iu-augment po natin dahil kasi ‘yung 60 and above hindi po natin nabakunahan,” he said.

“Ang recommendation po namin sa ating mga vaccine expert ay i-consider na ito 'yung mga primary vaccine para po sa 60 years and above…Yung senior healthcare workers po ito,” he said.

Earlier, the Food and Drug Administration said the Sinovac vaccines, the first to arrive in the country, is best for clinically healthy individuals aged 18 to 59 only.

The initial vaccination rollout using Sinovac covers different hospitals as the government’s top priority in the inoculation are the healthcare workers.

Galvez said they will finish first the vaccination of healthcare workers, which needs 3.4 million doses of vaccines. So far, he said the Philippines has around 1 million doses.

According to Galvez, over 480,000 doses of AstraZeneca under the COVAX Facility are expected to arrive in the country on Thursday.

This is in addition to the 600,000 doses of vaccines from Sinovac donated by the Chinese government. — RSJ, GMA News