Sixty-nine percent of the donated COVID-19 Pfizer bivalent vaccines from Lithuania have already been administered to priority groups, the Department of Health (DOH) said Tuesday.
As of August 14, DOH spokesperson Undersecretary Enrique Tayag said that 269,000 of the over 390,000 donated doses had already been given to healthcare workers (A1), senior citizens (A2), and adults with comorbidities (A3).
“Ibig sabihin, malapit na nating maubos ang bakuna lalong lalo na nung isang linggo, nagdagdag pa tayo ng mga populasyon na pwedeng makatanggap ng bivalent vaccine,” he said at a press conference.
(This means that we are about to exhaust these bivalent vaccines, especially after we added more groups who could receive them.)
The more than 390,000 doses of bivalent vaccines donated by Lithuania arrived in the Philippines in June this year.
Tayag said the administration of these donated bivalent jabs nationwide started on June 21, and they are expected to be depleted by the end of August or the first few weeks of September.
Their expiration date is also set in January 2024.
The DOH official also disclosed that the bivalent vaccines could already be used as a first or second booster at least four months after the recipients have been inoculated with their latest COVID-19 vaccine dose.
“Binigay na rin natin ‘yung bakuna sa mga kababayan natin kung ito ay first or second booster muna sapagkat nung nag-umpisa tayo, binibigay lamang natin siya as third booster, apat na buwan matapos ang second booster,” Tayag added.
(We have also given the bivalent vaccine to our countrymen as a first or second booster. When we started, we only gave it as a third booster, four months after the second booster.)
He thus called on the eligible population to receive the bivalent vaccines while they are still available.
“Kami ay nananawagan po doon sa mga hindi pa nababakunahan, baka maubos na po so kailangan ay magpa-lista na po kayo at pumila sapagkat ‘pag naubos po ‘yun, ay wala. ‘Yung susunod po ay mag-aantay tayo,” Tayag said.
(We are calling on those who have not yet been vaccinated with bivalent jabs to receive it because it might run out. You need to get listed because when they run out, there is nothing left. We have to wait for the next batch.)
He also said the DOH is expecting to receive 1.5 million to 2 million more doses of bivalent vaccines from the COVAX facility this year.
There were 910 new COVID-19 cases recorded from August 8 to August 14.
Tayag said the regions with the most cases that week were the National Capital Region (NCR), Calabarzon, Central Luzon, Davao Region, and Northern Mindanao.
Meanwhile, the highly urbanized cities that logged the highest count were Laguna, Quezon City, Davao City, Cavite, and Cagayan de Oro. —VAL, GMA Integrated News
