DOH: Nearly 2M COVID-19 vax doses to expire by end of June

About two million COVID-19 vaccine doses are expected to expire if they remain unused by June 30, an official of the Department of Health said Friday.

But DOH Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said the two million doses is not yet the final count.

“Sa ating expiring na vaccine, we will have the final numbers by end of May. But hanggang June we are expecting kung hindi ma-jab almost 2 million kung hindi magamit by end of June,” Cabotaje said at the Laging Handa briefing.

(As for our expiring vaccines, we will have the final numbers by the end of May. But until June, we are expecting two million to expire if they remain unused by the end of June.)

She said the that the DOH has submitted a demand forecast of 34 million doses.

“Ito ‘yung parang pang palit, ‘yung nag-expire na at saka ‘yung pwede pa  [at] mga pa-expire, which includes brands such as Sinovac, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer,” she said.

(This seems to be the replacement for vaccines that have expired and those that may expire, which includes brands such as Sinovac, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer.)

“From the communication we received from COVAX, replacement for vaccine includes vaccines from all sources, so hindi lang po ‘yung galing sa kanila, but they will also consider some of the vaccines that have been procured by the national government, even our private sector, and our local government,” she added.

(From the communication we received from COVAX, the replacement for vaccines includes vaccines from all sources, so not only those that they have donated, but they will also consider vaccines that were procured by the national government, private sector, and local government.)

Meanwhile, Cabotaje said that more than 73.7 million have been vaccinated with at least one dose while 69.1 million have been fully inoculated against the virus.

Cabotaje said the country is vaccinating around 200,000 individuals per day.

Second booster dose

According to the Health undersecretary, 36,000 frontline healthcare workers and around 83,000 senior citizens have received their second booster dose.

“Para ang total natin ng second booster ay 171,000. Naglalaro lang tayo [dati] sa mga less than 50 pero tumaas na ang tinaas nung binuksan natin sa A1 atsaksa ating senior,” she said.

(Our total for the second booster is at 171,000. Our numbers were playing at around 50,000 before, but this increased after we opened the second booster for the A1 and the seniors.)

The DOH previously said that getting a second booster dose will strengthen immunity against the virus as well as the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1, of which there are a total of 17 cases detected in the country.

Individuals seeking to be vaccinated must present their vaccination card showing the date of their first booster dose and any valid government-issued ID. —LBG, GMA News