DOH confident AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines will be used before expiry in June, July

Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje on Saturday expressed confidence that the 2 million AstraZeneca vaccines will be used before they expire in June and July.

“We are happy to note na sa 2 million (AstraZeneca doses), naka-500,000 na tayo isa, dalawang linggo pa lang,” Cabotaje, who also chairs the National COVID-19 Vaccination Operation Center, said in an interview on Dobol B TV.

(We are happy to note that, of the 2 million AstraZeneca doses, we already used 500,000 one to two weeks after delivery.)

“So, we will be reaching 1 million by end of May. So [there’s]another million. Mauubos natin ito. We are confident na mauubos natin. Nai-distribute na natin sa buong Pilipinas ‘yan at humihingi pa sila ng additional, wala na tayong maibigay,” she added.

(We are confident that we will use all of these vaccines. We already distributed it in different parts of the country and some local government units are even asking for additional supply but we cannot provide them anymore.)

In a public briefing last Thursday, Cabotaje said these AstraZeneca doses which will be expiring on June 30 will be all deployed by June 15, while those set to expire on July 31 will be distributed by July 15.

She also said speeding up the administration of AstraZeneca doses is not because the expiry date is near but because the government wants to vaccinate the most number of people at the soonest possible time.

As of May 18, the Philippine government has administered 3.2 million COVID-19 doses.

VACCINE ROLLOUT UPDATE | As of 18 May 2021, 6PM, 3,850 vaccination sites are conducting COVID-19 vaccination in various sites in 17 regions. 99% of the available doses have been distributed, equating to 7,671,120 out of 7,779,050.

Read: https://t.co/NO0SK1Gat5#COVID19PH pic.twitter.com/d9ey8LI6FL

— National Task Force Against COVID19 (@ntfcovid19ph) May 19, 2021

The government has also distributed 7,671,120 out of 7,779,050 COVID-19 vaccine doses across the country, which shows a 99% distribution rate.

The Philippines has been inoculating medical frontliners, senior citizens, and persons with comorbidities who belong to the A1 to A3 priority groups.

Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. said the government will start inoculating persons belonging to the A4 and A5 priority groups once the COVID-19 vaccine supply in the country becomes steady. —KG, GMA News