There is a “slight delay” in the arrival of Covid-19 bivalent vaccines in the country, the Department of Health (DOH) said. “So yung bivalent vaccines, nagkakaroon lang tayo ng kaunting delays (For the bivalent vaccines, we are having slight delays),” said  DOH Undersecretary and Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire in a press briefing on Tuesday, March 14. Previously, the DOH said that the bivalent vaccines to be donated by global vaccine-sharing platform Covax Facility are expected to arrive by March. The reason for the delay in delivery was due to the expiration of the State of Calamity due to Covid-19 last Dec. 31. Alongside the State of Calamity are conditions on the “immunity from liability and indemnification clauses” required by vaccine manufacturers and “even international agreements,” said Vergeire. “Ngayon ito lang po yung hinihingan natin ng guidance (We are seeking guidance regarding this) coming from the Office of the President if we can enter into this agreement with this immunity from liability and indemnification clauses na nakapasok dyan para mag go ahead na ang ating mga transaksyon at ang pakikipag-usap (that is included there so that our transactions and negotiations will push ahead),” said Vergeire. The Covax Facility has committed to donate 1,002,000 doses of Pfizer bivalent vaccines. This type of vaccine is designed to specifically target the Omicron variant and its subvariants of the Covid-19 virus.

Monovalent jabs, addressing vaccine wastage

Vergeire assured the public that the stock of monovalent vaccines in the country will still be used amid the expected arrival of bivalent vaccines. “Tuloy-tuloy pa rin programa natin ng monovalent vaccines where we still give for our community tapos yung bivalent na dadating, uunahin muna natin mga vulnerable so walang masasayang, lahat po ay gagamitin pa rin natin (Our program of using the monovalent vaccines will continue where we still give for our community. For the bivalent, we will prioritize first the vulnerable [individuals]. So, nothing will be wasted. All [vaccines] will still be used),” said Vergeire. During a recent Senate hearing, the DOH reported that the country’s vaccine wastage already reached 44 million. Vergeire said they are bringing the vaccines “closer” to communities to avoid further increase in the number of vaccine wastage. “Ano yung forward measures natin? Katulad ng naisagot namin nung nag Blue Ribbon Committee hearing tayo sa senate, sinabi natin that we are now making the vaccines closer to our community kung saan tinalaga na natin na-integrate na natin COVID-19 vaccination sa regular programs ng ating local facilities (What are our forward measures? Similar to what we answered during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing, we are now making the vaccines closer to our community where we have integrated Covid-19 vaccination into the regular programs of our local facilities),” she said. “So, anytime our kababayans would like to have their vaccines anywhere they are, they can go to any healthcare center and they can receive their Covid-19 vaccination,” she added. The DOH has also set up a vaccination tracker, wherein the public can access the list of Covid-19 vaccination sites: [https://doh.gov.ph/covid-19-vaccination-sites](https://doh.gov.ph/covid-19-vaccination-sites) or [https://bit.ly/C19VaxSites](https://bit.ly/C19VaxSites).