Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 6) — There are still over 17 million COVID-19 vaccines stored in warehouses that can be used to inoculate Filipinos even if the state of calamity for coronavirus has ended, the Department of Health said Friday.
In a media forum, Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said a total of 17,488,050 COVID-19 doses are still available for Filipinos, especially for the eligible population.
“Of this 17 million plus, around six million are ‘quarantined,’ meaning we are still waiting for the evidence and the application of our manufacturers for us to extend their shelf lives,” Vergeire said.
Some of the doses may expire within the first quarter of 2023 while there are also stocks that would last until midyear, according to Vergeire.
While both the state of calamity and state of public health emergency for COVID-19 have been lifted, Vergeire assured that the emergency use authority of COVID-19 vaccines is still valid for a year.
“That is what we are using now as basis for us to have continuity in this COVID-19 vaccination program,” she said.
In terms of getting new stocks of vaccines, Vergeire said the Health department will revert to the usual mode of procurement for vaccines through the Government Procurement Reform Act. She added negotiated procurement is also provided in the law.
“Meron din tayong alok na donasyon galing sa ibang bansa para dito sa bivalent vaccines,” the health official said. We are working on that so that we can also receive within the first quarter itong mga bakunang kailangan ng mga sektor ng ating populasyon.”
[Translation: We also have offers of donation from other countries for bivalent vaccines. We are working on that so that we can also receive within the first quarter these vaccines needed by some sectors of the population.]
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So far, more than 73 million people have already received their primary series for COVID-19 while over 21 million Filipinos have been inoculated with booster shots.
In November, the DOH said over 31 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have gone to waste, with an estimated value of ₱15.6 billion.
