DOH exec: AstraZeneca doses from COVAX only for top three priority groups

The AstraZeneca doses donated by the COVAX Facility, a global vaccine-sharing initiative, is only for health workers (A1), senior citizens (A2), and persons with comorbidities (A3), a health official said Wednesday.

Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said the two million AstraZeneca doses delivered over the weekend cannot be used on essential workers, the fourth priority group for vaccination.  

“Ang priority po ng COVAX ay A1, A2, and A3 so hindi po natin pwede ibigay sa ibang areas [The priority of COVAX is A1, A2, and A3 so we cannot give it to other areas],” she said in a Laging Handa briefing.

Cabotaje added that only 6% of 7.7 million senior citizens and over 70% of 1.5 million health workers included in the vaccination master list have received a jab as of May 11. 

The latest AstraZeneca shipment is also set to expire in midyear, prompting the government to allot 1.5 million doses as the first shot. 

“Based on our experience from the past, noong pinayagan natin na lahat ito ay maging first dose [when we allowed all shots to be used as the first dose], we were able to have an accomplishment, one-time highest, 90,000 [vaccine recipients] per day,” Cabotaje said.

President Rodrigo Duterte previously approved the use of the entire first batch of donated AstraZeneca vaccines as the first dose for health workers. 

“So kaya natin kung may 1,000 tayong mga vaccination sites ngayon at sabihin natin mga [So we can do it if we have 1,000 vaccination sites now and let’s say we have] 100 vaccinees per day… we can produce the numbers,” Cabotaje said.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III also said that no AstraZeneca doses will be wasted after the Metro Manila Development Authority committed to inoculate 120,000 people in the capital region daily. 

The Philippines has vaccinated over 2 million people as of May 11, still far off from the government’s target of inoculating 50 million to 70 million individuals this year. — BM, GMA News