Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) — The 30 vials of COVID-19 vaccines affected by a fire that hit their storage in Cagayan de Oro will likely not be used anymore, a health official said on Friday.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said these vaccines will probably be considered a “wastage” unless the fire that hit the provincial capitol of Misamis Oriental on Wednesday was far from the storage facility.
“Dahil nagkaroon ng sunog, temperature was high so hindi natin iri-risk na tignan pa at gamitin ang bakuna dahil nabago na ang temperatura kung sakali… Most probably this will be considered wastage already,” she said in a media briefing.
[Translation: Because the temperature was high due to the fire, we will not risk to use these vaccines. The temperature changed.]
Dr. Jerie Calingasan, who works at the capitol, said 30 vials of Sinovac were destroyed. Vergeire said they could have been used to inoculate 300 people, but Calingasan clarified the affected vials were good for only 30 vaccinees.
“Sinovac is in a single dose vial, One vial is for one vaccinee,” he said in a text message.
The Health Department, however, assured that the blaze will not affect the government’s vaccination program since there is an allocated “buffer for wastage” in the country’s stockpile despite scare supply.
Over 160,000 people in the Philippines have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 after getting their second doses. The country has administered a total of 1,255,716 doses as of Tuesday. Of this number, 2.01% have experienced non-serious adverse events following immunization, while 0.03% exhibited serious side effects.
