Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 2) — The Department of Health (DOH) said on Tuesday that some 390,000 doses of bivalent vaccines for COVID-19 are expected to arrive in the country by the end of the month.
However, DOH Officer-in-Charge Ma. Rosario Vergeire did not name the country which donated the vaccines.
\”Tayo po ay nakapag-umpisa na at nakuha na natin yung [EUA] na kailangan mula sa Food and Drug Administration. Atin na lang pong ginagawa ay nagfa-finalize ng mga dokumento,” she said during a press briefing.
[Translation: We have started working on this, and we already received the EUA needed from the FDA. What we are doing now is finalizing the documents.]
\”Hopefully, by the end of May, we can be able to receive these 390,000 doses,” she added.
The Food and Drug Administration granted the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the bivalent vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna last December.
The bivalent vaccines made by the two companies can be used for the original strain of the coronavirus as well as Omicron and its subvariants.
One million doses of bivalent vaccines donated by the COVAX facility were supposed to arrive in the country last March. However, the DOH is still waiting for legal clearance to receive the doses.
\”Unang una yung sa COVAX, hindi pa naman tayo nagkakaroon ng final agreements because yung unang batch na dapat ide-deliver sa atin ay medyo naantala. Kaya naibigay muna nila sa ibang bansa,” Vergeire said.
[Translation: With the COVAX, we have not yet made any final agreements because the first batch that was supposed to be delivered was delayed. That’s why they gave it to another country.]
\”They have committed that once we are already ready with our basis legally, ay maari naman tayong mabigyan pa rin (they could still give us doses),\” she noted
