WHO to prioritize two groups for vaccines

MANILA, Philippines — The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday urged the Philippine government to use the almost six million doses of COVID-19 vaccines that will come through the COVAX facility to primarily protect health workers.

According to WHO country representative Rabindra Abeyasinghe, the priority “at this time of the year” is to protect the “most vulnerable” sector of society.

“That’s the health care workers who continue to risk their lives on a daily basis to care for COVID-19 infected patients,” he said at a press briefing organized by the Department of Health (DOH).

Abeyasinghe noted that countries applying for COVID-19 vaccines are being requested to prioritize health workers for vaccination. The second priority should be the elderly and those with co-morbidities, he added.

Earlier, National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief Carlito Galvez Jr. had announced that some 117,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines from COVAX will arrive in the country starting this month.

On the other hand, the Philippines stands to receive 5,500,800 to 9,290,400 doses of vaccines from AstraZeneca also this month.

This means that the country will receive a total of 9,407,400 doses from the two pharmaceutical firms within the projected first and second quarters of this year.

AstraZeneca EUL

Abeyasinghe said he believes that AstraZeneca will soon have its own WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL) for its COVID-19 vaccine, just like Pfizer-BioNTech.

“We believe that it will be completed within the next week or two. We are optimistic that the EUL status will be granted to AstraZeneca probably in the early part of February,” he said.

He added that having an EUL will “free up the movement of the vaccines to the Philippines.”

For DOH’s part, Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the country is prepared for the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.

She underscored that the DOH has been conducting immunization activities for various diseases in past decades already. – Helen Flores, Alexis Romero