Almost two million Covid-19 vaccines are estimated to expire by the end of June, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) said.
“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 two million kung hindi magamit by end of June (Regarding expiring vaccines, we will have the final numbers by the end of May. But until June, we are expecting almost two million to expire if these will not be used by the end of June),” said DOH Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje on Friday, May 27.
Cabotaje, meanwhile, said that the DOH is in close coordination with the global vaccine sharing platform COVAX Facility to replace expired vaccines.
“From the communication we received from COVAX, replacement for vaccine includes vaccines from all sources, so hindi lang po yung galing sa kanila (not only those that they have donated), 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,” she said.
The DOH is currently conducting information drive about Covid-19 vaccines to increase the vaccine uptake, said Cabotaje.
"Nagkakaroon tayo ngayon ng micro planning sessions. Ibig sabihin, titingnan natin paano ba ang pagbabakuna sa mga areas na mababa (We're having micro planning sessions right now. It means, we're looking at how we can improve the vaccination coverage in areas that still have low vaccination rate)," she said.
Micro planning sessions are currently being held in Soccsksargen Quezon province, and Negros. Also, special vaccination days were also conducted in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao last May 11 to 20, said Cabotaje.
The Health official remained optimistic that the national government would be able to reach its target of fully vaccinating 77 million Filipinos by the end of June.
“Yes, with great effort, we hope we can achieve the 77 million,” she said. As of May 26, Cabotaje said 69.1 million individuals are already fully vaccinated.