Muntinlupa to miss out on newly delivered Pfizer jabs after storage woes

Muntinlupa will miss out on the latest shipment of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine after its local government unit experienced problems at its cold storage facility.

According to Darlene Cay's report over "Saksi," vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. also reminded local government units to take the necessary precautions when storing the vaccines to prevent spoilage.

Some COVID-19 jabs including Pfizer require lower temperatures to prevent spoilage.

"The global demand is so high and we know that Pfizer is one of the most sought brand," Galvez said.

"And we know that there is some constriction on the deployment of the vaccine but we are very thankful that they have given us this substantial amount that we can give considering that we have now the raging Delta cases in our country," he added.

The delivery on Wednesday night is the first batch of 40 million Pfizer doses that the Philippines bought. The target is to have similar deliveries every week.

The Muntinlupa LGU earlier stopped vaccination at one of its inoculation sites after it experienced issues at the storage facility.

The Department of Health (DOH) said it sent the affected vaccines to international experts for evaluation.

Galvez witnessed the arrival of 562,770 Pfizer doses in Manila at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3. Of the number, more than 50,000 doses will be delivered each to Cebu and Davao.

Cebu already received its share while shipment of the vaccines will arrive in Davao by Wednesday morning.

Galvez said more than 460,000 Pfizer doses would be sent to NCR+8 areas (Metro Manila, Pampanga, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao) and other local government units that have the appropriate cold chain storage for handling the drug.

He added that the Pfizer vaccines would also be given to seafarers, who need Western-made vaccine brands required by their employers. Also, Galvez thanked Pfizer for providing the vaccines "despite restrictions of deployment."

"The global demand is so high and we know that the Pfizer is one of the most sought brand... We are thankful they have given us a substantial amount. This is an initial amount considering that we have now Delta cases in the country," Galvez said.

The Philippines is expected to receive more batches of the 40 million doses of Pfizer vaccines that the government procured last month. —NB, GMA News