MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday night urged local government units (LGUs) to immediately roll out immunization once COVID-19 vaccines reach their respective communities to avoid wastage due to expiration or spoilage.
Duterte made this statement as he assured LGU officials that the national government distributes Covid-19 vaccines as fast as they come to its possession.
“Maghintay lang kayo (Just wait) because these things must be distributed immediately…the fastest way that we can. Mabilis na ang dating ngayon at mabilis din ang bigay natin, (The arrival of vaccines is faster so we’re also distributing them faster)” Duterte said in a pre-recorded public address.
He also reminded them to take note of vaccine characteristics, particularly temperature and shelf life so that they can be used up before they expire.
“Yung infrastructure niyo sa baba kailangan (Your infrastructure down there) must be able to come up with the numbers required kasi itong mga bakuna may expiry date depende sa..sabi nga ni (because these vaccines have expiry different expiry dates). It cannot be effective forever,” he added.
Duterte emphasized the need for national and local governments to work together to ensure the quick distribution and rollout of Covid-19 vaccines.
“Kailangan pagpadating doon sa inyo, mapatakbo na kaagad ninyo yung administrative pati siguro mga local may mga hospital. Magtulong-tulungan nalang (When it reaches you, you need to send them to administrative and local hospitals. Let’s help each other) so that we would not waste the vaccines because we were not able to deliver it on time. That would be a problem kung mag-expire ‘yan dito sa kamay sa itaas at hindi kaagad napunta doon sa baba (if they expire here before they reach the local levels),” he said.
Duterte said avoiding the wastage of Covid-19 vaccines is important because he did not want to lose the country’s fight against Covid-19 through “negligence.”
Earlier in the day, Malacañang allayed concerns over the pace of the country’s vaccination rollout with two million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses set to expire in one to two months.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque assured that the two million AstraZeneca doses will be used up before they expire.
“Wala pong problema ‘yan kasi ang expiration date ay July. Mayo pa lang po. Isang buwan lang ang ating kailangan para ubusin yung 2 million na AstraZeneca (There’s no problem there because the expiration date is on July. It’s only May. We only need one month to finish those 2 million doses of AstraZeneca),” he said in a press briefing from PTV-4.
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said the government will deploy 1.5 million doses of the vaccines as first shots, while the remaining shots will be used as second doses for those who received their first shot in March.
Of the more than 2 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses that the Philippines received from the World Health Organization-led COVAX global facility last weekend, 1.5 million doses will expire on June 30, 2021, while 525,600 will expire on July 31, 2021.
The Philippines aims to vaccinate around 50 to 70 million Filipinos this year. (PNA)