CONTRARY to earlier reports, local health officials said they are not yet certain which vaccine and how many doses will initially arrive in Davao City.
Department of Health (DOH)-Davao Director Dr. Annabelle Yumang said during the simulation exercise on Wednesday, February 10, that the National Government is still not certain what vaccine will first arrive in the country.
She said they are still awaiting the latest pronouncement of the DOH national, although initial doses are expected to arrive in the country on February 12.
"Kung madayon na nga adlawa and kung naa flight during that day also going to Davao City, himuon na siya, pero wala pa ta kahibalo. No definite date yet as to when will this vaccine will arrive in Davao City," Yumang said.
Acting City Health Office head Dr. Ashley Lopez also confirmed this in a radio interview on the same day.
"Sa karon, dili pa sila mu-disclose kung unsa nga brand, so wala pa gyud tay official (As of now, they are not yet disclosing what brand of vaccine will be distributed, so we cannot yet make it official)," he said in a interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
Lopez was the first to break the news that Pfizer-BioNTech's BNT162b2 will be the first vaccine to be rolled out in the city and is expected to arrive within February this year.
Pfizer-BioNTech's BNT162b2, the first Covid-19 vaccine to be issued with an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will be initially allocated to the city's medical frontliners, particularly those from the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC).
The National Government expects delivery of 117,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine within the month. Given in two doses 28 days apart, these would be good for 58,500 individuals.
However, both Yumang and Lopez cannot give the number of doses of Covid-19 vaccine that Davao City will be receiving.
While waiting for its arrival, DOH-Davao, along with other concerned agencies, spearheaded a simulation exercise on the arrival and transport of Covid-19 vaccines.
It included loading from the airport; transport of vaccines to the cold chain storage facility; unloading, receiving and inspection of vaccines; preparation of vaccines for distribution; loading and delivery to various points of destination such as hospitals and health facilities; and unloading and acceptance of Covid-19 vaccines at the destinations.
Yumang said the initial simulation exercise was intended for the possible arrival of the Pfizer-Biontech which is an "ultra low vaccine" that requires a subzero low storage temperature of -70 to -80 degrees Celsius.
Yumang said there is a need to secure an ultra low freezer to store these kinds of vaccines.
She also said they are already preparing for other contingencies in the arrival of the vaccine.
Currently, Yumang said the Southern Philippines Medical Center is the identified facility that will have a freezer with a storage temperature of -80 degree Celsius. She said they are also eyeing to store the vaccines at the Los Amigos molecular laboratory in Tugbok District.
"But we are still looking for one of the laboratories here, since ongoing pa ang licensing in Los Amigos molecular lab (The licensing of Los Amigos molecular lab is still being processed). They also have one freezer didtoa . Na-inspect nato siya last Monday [February 8], ginatan-aw nato iya capacity also (t]We already inspected it last Monday and we are also assessing its capacity)," the DOH official said.
As for other vaccines that require a storage temperature 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, she said they can be guaranteed to be distributed in each municipal and rural health centers, since each center has this kind of storage equipment.
Lopez, meanwhile, said the City Government already acquired a new ultra low freezer for the Los Amigos Molecular Laboratory.
"If needed or necessary to augment the capacity of storage of SPMC in the region, pwede nato ipagamit (we can let them use it) because we already have the go signal of the mayor," he said.
Lopez said the freezer has a capacity to store 35,000 vials.
He said the DOH and FDA have already conducted assessment on the freezer in the previous days, and he deemed it sufficient.
"I think that will suffice for the initial delivery that we have for especially from ultra low vaccines such as Pfizer," he said.
He also said they already requested for the purchase of two more ultra-low temperature freezers and seven other freezers that could store other vaccines with a different storage requirement.
"Dugang na siya sa atong mga available nga vaccine refs [refrigerators] sa atong district health centers since part na siya sa atong regular immunization that we have in the city naa tay mga vaccine refs sa atong health centers (This is an additional to our current available vaccination refs at our district health centers since this is already part of our regular immunization in the city). This will capacitate Davao City in terms of Covid-19 vaccination," Lopez said.