The Philippines is ensuring to have enough supplies of syringes, particularly the 0.3ml syringes (microsyringes) and 0.5ml auto-disable (AD) syringes, which are necessary tools for its coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination program, the Department of Health (DOH) and the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 said on Sunday, Dec. 12.

In a joint statement, the DOH and NTF said that “two batches of procurement through UNICEF were undertaken.”

They noted that the first batch which include eight million 0.3ml syringes worth P29.1 million were completely delivered last October.

The second batch, meanwhile, was financed through the Asian Development Bank, and consisted of 44 million syringes amounting to about P152.6 million, the DOH and NTF said.

“Of this second batch, four million will be delivered in December 2021 and (the) remaining 40 million during the first quarter of 2022 due to global supply shortage,” the agencies said.

Currently, 3,653,000 syringes out of the four million have already been delivered and the rest is expected this coming week, they added.

“The first and second batches of procurement through UNICEF totals to 52 million of 0.3 syringes at around P3.25 per piece or USD 6.5 cents (P50 = USD 1) which includes cost for logistics,” the DOH and NTF said.

“Even with the delays in delivery of microsyringes, we made sure that we can still administer the Pfizer vaccines that we procured by using tuberculin syringes. The government together with LGUs and the private sector is working hard to increase our vaccine coverage to protect more Filipinos against COVID-19. Through our bayanihan, we achieved 2.82 million jabs in one day,” said Presidential Adviser on COVID-19 Response Secretary Vince Dizon.

Meanwhile, the DOH also noted it also procured 100 million pieces of 0.5ml AD syringes last April.

The cost of the said syringe per piece was at P2.38 “from an initial approved budget of P2.50 per piece.”

“Thus, P2.38 per piece or USD 4.8 cents (P50 = USD 1) was used as a basis for the ongoing emergency procurement of another batch of 50 million pieces of 0.5ml AD syringes,” the DOH said.

“We are continuously ensuring enough supplies of syringes for our COVID-19 vaccination program - noting that 0.3ml syringes are different from 0.5ml syringes, and as such would have varying prices,” DOH Undersecretary of the Health Regulation Team Atty. Charade Mercado-Grande.

To note, the 0.3ml syringes are compatible for Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines while the 0.5ml AD syringes are being used for other vaccines.

Moderna vaccines

In the same statement, the DOH and NTF also said that “no Moderna vaccines have been refused by the Philippine government.”

“The Philippines received 3,000,060 Moderna vaccines from the US through the COVAX facility last August 3, 2021. No other Moderna vaccine offer has been received by the Vaccine Cluster,” they said.

“For the record, we have not rejected any Moderna vaccines that were offered to the Philippine government. These vaccines are essential in achieving our goal of providing additional protection to Filipinos against COVID-19. And it is towards saving more lives and defeating the pandemic that the whole of government and the entire nation should work together,” said NTF Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.