The Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday that there is "no truth" that they are distributing Covid-19 booster shot doses that are already expired.

In a media briefing, DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the Covid-19 vaccines that are being distributed have an "extended shelf life".

"Everybody knows about this because when these vaccines were near expiring already, we coordinated with FDA so they can coordinate with manufacturers to determine kung pwede maextend ang (if it's possible to extend the) shelf life," she added.

Vergeire explained that when manufacturers extend the shelf life of vaccines, it undergoes a thorough study which is called a stability study. She added that this was done to the Covid-19 vaccines that they requested.

She said that whatever Covid-19 vaccines they we are distributing now in their communities, these are vaccines within the expiry dates which means they are still effective and safe.

"So wala po tayong katotohanan na nagbibigay tayo ng expired na bakuna (It's not true that we are distributing expired Covid-19 vaccines)," she stated.

There was one issue, she recalled, involving vaccines with extended shelf life but labels on the vials were unchanged since the majority of manufacturers have stopped production already. Vergeire also mentioned that they cannot return these vials just to change their expiry dates.

"What we have are certificates nakalagay doon (indicated there are the) yung shelf lives. So ito po ay binigay namin sa bawat vaccination sites na kopya para kung saka-sakali maipapakita natin sa bawat babakunahan na yung kanilang bakuna is viable pa, potent pa dahil yung shelf life niya nandun pa rin within the expirity period (So we gave these away to vaccination sites so they can show to every individual that their vaccine is still viable and potent because its shelf life is still within the expiry period)," she said.