The Department of Health (DOH) said it already procured at least 44 million syringes early this year through the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for the country's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination program.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they were anticipating that there could be a global shortage of the said vaccination tool, adding that they specifically ordered the 0.3 ml syringes.
"We have anticipated this kind of shortage as early as May to June of this year...So, early part of this year, we placed our orders and our procurement process through the UNICEF," said Vergeire on Friday, Nov. 12.
"Hanggang sa ngayon medyo nagkakaroon ng delays ang kanilang deliveries sa atin and this is because of the apparent global shortage na sinasabi (Until now, there have been some delays in the deliveries and this is because of the apparent global shortage)," she added.
Vergeire said that they coordinated with DOH regional offices to use tuberculin syringes instead of 0.3 ml syringes for mRNA vaccines. She noted that 0.3 ml syringes are recommended to be used in administering mRNA-type vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna.
"For the other types of vaccines, wala po tayong problema kasi marami po tayong commodities that are in our storage facilities na maaring gamitin doon sa ibang klaseng requirements for other vaccines (For the other types of vaccines, we don't have a problem because we have a lot of commodities that are in our storage facilities that can be used for other types of vaccines)," she said.
"Pero ito pong 0.3ml syringes na specifically ginagamit for mRNA vaccines, ito po ang nagkukulang, shortage din globally talaga (But these 0.3ml syringes that are specifically used for mRNA vaccines, there really is a shortage globally)," she added.
Vergeire said that the DOH tasked its pharmaceutical division, disease prevention and control bureau, as well as the Food And Drug Administration (FDA) to "map-out" and "explore" other resources to secure stocks for these 0.3 ml syringes.
Reuters reported last Nov. 9 that “there could be a shortage of one to two billion syringes needed to administer COVID-19 vaccinations in 2022 which could also impact routine immunisations and undermine needle safety,” as it quoted the World Health Organization (WHO).
"We could have a global shortage of immunisation syringes that could in turn lead to serious problems such as slowing down immunisation efforts as well as safety concerns," Reuters reported quoting WHO expert Lisa Hedman.