HEALTH facilities in the regions have been given until March 24, 2021 to use up the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccines delivered to them, Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Monday, March 22, 2021.
Any excess would be reverted to the DOH central office and redeployed to areas with a surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases, such as the National Capital Region plus (NCR+).
NCR+ refers to NCR or Metro Manila and the neighboring provinces of Bulacan in Central Luzon, and Cavite, Laguna and Rizal in Calabarzon, which account for more than half of the new cases in the country. The area has been placed in a partial Covid-19 "bubble" in an attempt to stem the rise in cases.
In a virtual press briefing Monday, Vergeire said March 24 is the latest deadline given to hospitals and other health facilities with AZ vaccines.
She did not indicate the first deadline, but said the vaccinations should have been completed by then.
“So nagbigay tayo ulit ng deadline. Ang sabi natin, ‘kailangan mangyari na ‘yan by March 24. Kung hindi, kung hindi n’yo pa magagamit, kukunin muna natin para mabakunahan natin ‘yung iba pang hindi nababakunahan dito sa mga matataas na kaso dito sa bang areas,” Vergeire said.
(We have set another deadline and told them that if they couldn’t use up the vaccines by March 24, we are going to redistribute the vaccines to areas with a high number of cases.)
She said implementing offices must understand that the AZ vaccine has a short shelf life.
“They have to do this expeditiously, especially now that the cases are rising at ang panlaban ng ating mga healthcare workers dito sa sakit na ito,” Vergeire added.
She assured that any stocks that would be redistributed would be returned to the health facilities concerned when additional vaccines arrive.
The World Health Organization (WHO) had warned that failure to use up the AZ vaccines would put the second tranche of vaccines from the Covax facility at risk.
A total of 525,600 doses of the AZ vaccine, donated through the Covax facility, were delivered to the Philippines on March 4 and 7. These will expire in three months, or by end-May 2021.
Instead of setting aside half of the shipment to be used for the second dose, the DOH recommended on March 15 that all 525,600 shots be used as first dose. President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the recommendation.
This will not only provide partial protection to more healthcare workers, but also ensure that the vaccines are used before the expiry date and the second tranche of Covax vaccines would be delivered.
The Philippines is also vaccinating some healthcare workers with the Sinovac vaccine, or CoronaVac, donated by China.
Since the CoronaVac has a longer shelf life than the AZ vaccines, half of the 600,000 doses sent by China on February 28 have been set aside for the second dose.
The government expects delivery in early April at the latest of an additional donation of 400,000 doses from China as well as one million doses procured from Sinovac.
As of March 15, nearlyl 216,000 individuals have been vaccinated in the Philippines, which is not even one percent of the target of 24.7 million individuals under Priority Group A, including 1.76 million healthcare workers. For 2021, the government targets to vaccinate a total of 70 million citizens.
Both the CoronaVac and AZ vaccine are administered in two doses. The second dose is given 28 days after the first dose for the CoronaVac, and four to 12 weeks for the AZ vaccine. The DOH has recommended that the second dose of the AZ vaccine be given on the 12th week. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)