Galvez: Gov’t still assessing damage to vaccines due to Odette

The government is still assessing if there were vaccines damaged due to the onslaught of Typhoon Odette in central and southern Philippines last week, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Monday.

At a press conference, Galvez said they received a report that 100 vials of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were "compromised" in Region VI, but says the information is still unclear.

"Sa ngayon, isa pa lang ang nag-report sa Region VI; mayroon silang 100 vials na na-compromise, 100 vials ng Pfizer, and we are still looking, magkaroon ng assessment 'yung warehouses kasi nakita natin sira-sira 'yung mga facilities..." he said.

(The warehouses will be assessed because we saw some damage to the facilities.)

"We are thankful na sa ngayon, very minimal pa 'yung report kasi 'yung simula pa lang 'yung balita na darating si Odette, nagbigay na tayo ng tinatawag na guidance, ng memorandum na magkaroon ng by all means, magkaroon ng preparation sa safety keeping ng vaccines. We are still investigating kung ano pa 'yung degree ng damage," he added.

(We only received minimal reports because even before Odette arrived, we issued guidelines on safekeeping the vaccines. We are still investigating the degree of damage to vaccines.)

Galvez said they would release a report on the matter after the assessment.

The national government has maintained the target of fully vaccinating 54 million Filipinos against COVID-19 by year end despite postponement of inoculation activities in some parts of the country due to the effects of Odette.

A second round of national vaccination was conducted from December 15 to 17 in areas not affected by the typhoon. However, only 2,482,044 million COVID-19 doses were administered. — BM, GMA News