DOH: No favoritism in allocation of Pfizer COVID-19 jabs
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health said there is no favoritism in the allocation of COVID-19 vaccines, denying allegations that Davao City received the lion’s share of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses delivered to the Philippines.
In a briefing Monday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the national government allocates jabs based on the needs of an area and the prioritization framework.
“There are no favorites,” Vergeire said.
Health Undersecretary Abdullah Dumama Jr., who leads the field implementation and coordination team in Visayas and Mindanao, said Cebu and Davao each received 210,000 Pfizer vaccine doses.
“This is not for Davao City only. This is also for the Davao region and nearby areas that need Pfizer vaccines,” Dumama said in Filipino.
“They were given that allocation because they have the capability. We have ultra-low temperature freezers here… There is no favoritism here,” he added.
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines need to be stored at around -70°C to -80°C.
Only five regions have yet to use Pfizer jabs in their vaccination program due to the lack of ultra-low freezers, Vergeire said. These are Mimaropa, Bicol region, Soccsksargen, Caraga and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Dumama said the Bangsamoro government is expected to pass a resolution that will allow the region to procure ultra-low freezers.
The Philippines has so far received over 2.4 million Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX facility.
The government announced Sunday it has signed a supply deal for 40 million doses of the Pfizer jab, which is the country’s biggest coronavirus vaccine agreement to date. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
The national government has so far secured two official deals for COVID-19 vaccine supplies in the Philippines, one with Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac and another with the Serum Institute of India.
Watch this space for bite-sized developments on the vaccines in the Philippines. (Main image by Markus Spiske via Unsplash)
Health Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire says the general population may now get their second booster jab.
"We're just waiting for the release of implementing guidelines, then we'll start rolling out our second booster for the general population," she says. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
Amid questions on vaccines being administered, the Department of Health assures the public all doses are safe and effective as the “process of extending shelf life goes through thorough stability studies.”
“The government ensures that every vaccine that is injected with an extended shelf life has gone through studies, and is still safe and effective against COVID-19,” it adds.
Government must increase vaccination capacity across the Philippines in anticipation of a surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant of the corona virus, Sen. Risa Hontiveros says.
She says local government units and the private sector can work together to put up more vaccination centers and deploy more vaccination teams to get more people inoculated against COVID-19.
"The active COVID cases have nearly doubled in three days. The positivity rate is almost four times the ceiling set by the World Health Organization. Huwag na nating hintayin na sobrang lumala pa ang sitwasyon bago tayo gumawa ng paraan para mapabilis ang ating pagbabakuna."
FDA chief Eric Domingo says that its agency has given emergency approval for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.
The United States immunized around 900,000 children aged five-to-11 against Covid in the first week the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for them, a White House official says Wednesday.
Roughly 700,000 more have made appointments at pharmacies, White House Covid coordinator Jeff Zients tells reporters.
"The program is just getting up to full strength," he says, adding most of the shots were given in the last couple of days alone. — AFP
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