Inventory, deployment preparation behind vaccine deliveries slow down, Galvez explains

As some local government units halt vaccination due to supply woes, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. revealed there are delays in arrival of vaccine shipments usually during the first and last week of the month.

In a taped weekly Cabinet briefing on late Tuesday night, Galvez explained that there are lean weeks for vaccine supplies due to preparations and redeployment of vaccine manufacturers.

"Nagkakaroon ng tinatawag na lean days kasi during first day of the month nagkakaroon sila ng preparation ng deployment so nagdedeploy pa po sila ng second week," an apologetic Galvez said after delivery of Sinovac shipment were moved to July 18.

"Nu'ng last week, nagkakaroon ng inventory and re-deployment yung mga manufacturers so ang nangyayari ang ating mga vaccines dumating ng second or third week or fourth week ng buwan," he added.

Galvez further underscored the need to administer a second dose as the time between the administration of the first dose and the second dose is longer.

To date, the country administered 9,047,357 first dose and 2,920,448 second dose.

16-M doses of vaccines expected in July

Meanwhile, the vaccine czar said they expect 16,205,240 doses of vaccines will be received by the end of July.

Here is the breakdown of the millions of doses expected in July:

• Sputnik V -  170,000 doses July 7, 11 p.m.
• AstraZeneca - 1,124,100 July 8, 8:55 p.m.

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• Johnson&Johnson - 3,024,000 midweek of July
• AstraZeneca  (COVAX) - 2,028,000 midweek of July
• AstraZeneca (procured) - 1,170,000 July 18
• Sinovac - 3 million doses July 18
• Pfizer - 562,770 doses, July 19
• Moderna - 250,800 doses, July 21 to July 27
• Sinovac - 2,500,000 July 24 to July 25
• Sinovac - 2 million July 30 to 31

If the US-donated Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be delivered, Galvez said they expect to distribute the vaccines to senior citizens and people with comorbidities.

There will also be an equitable distribution of 100,000 vaccine doses per region. The remaining 1.2 million will be distributed to the rest of the population based on the masterlist of seniors and people with comorbidities.

For the month of August, Galvez said they expect about 14,170,000 doses of vaccines from various manufacturers. Specifically, 6 to7 million doses from Sinovac, 4 million from COVAX, 2 million from Pfizer and 1 million doses from Moderna.

In total, this will bring the total delivered vaccines in the Philippines to 47 million doses. -- BAP, GMA News