Nearly 2M COVID-19 vaccines will expire this June – DOH

Around two million COVID-19 vaccination doses will expire on June 30, a Department of Health (DOH) official warned Friday.

Myrna Cabotaje, DOH undersecretary, said 2 million doses is not the final tally.

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“Sa ating expiring na vaccine, we will have the final numbers by end of May. But hanggang June we are expecting kung hindi ma-jab almost 2 million kung hindi magamit by end of June,” Cabotaje said at the Laging Handa briefing.

(With our expiring vaccine, we will have the final numbers by the end of May. But until June, we are expecting almost 2 million if not administered by the end of June.)

She stated that the Department of Health had presented a demand prediction of 34 million doses.

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“Ito ‘yung parang pang palit, ‘yung nag-expire na at saka ‘yung pwede pa  [at] mga pa-expire, which includes brands such as Sinovac, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer,” she said.

(It appears that this is the replacement for vaccinations that have expired or may expire, including brands like Sinovac, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer.)

“From the communication, we received from COVAX, replacement for vaccine includes vaccines from all sources, so hindi lang po ‘yung galing sa kanila, but they will also consider some of the vaccines that have been procured by the national government, even our private sector, and our local government,” Cabotaje added.

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Nearly 2M COVID-19 vaccines will expire this June – DOH

(From the communication we received from COVAX, replacement for vaccines includes vaccines from all sources, so not only those from them, but they will also consider some of the vaccines that the national government has procured, even our private sector and our local government.)

Meanwhile, according to Cabotaje, more than 73.7 million people have received at least one vaccine dosage, with 69.1 million having been fully immunized against the virus.

According to Cabotaje, the country vaccinates roughly 200,000 people per day.

According to the Health Undersecretary, the second booster dose was given to 36,000 frontline healthcare professionals and roughly 83,000 senior residents.

The Department of Health previously stated that receiving a second booster dose will improve protection against the virus and the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1, which has been discovered in 17 instances across the country.

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