PH to receive add'l 300K doses of bivalent Covid-19 vaccines

THE COUNTRY  is expected to receive over 300,000 doses of bivalent Covid-19 vaccines apart from the COVAX Facility’s donation of one million doses.  

“Meron pang isang bansa (There is another country) which we could not name for now because the agreements are being finalized but they will give additional 300,000 plus doses,” Department of Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a media forum on Tuesday.

The DOH has secured an initial donation of 1,002,000 million doses of bivalent Covid-19 Pfizer vaccines from the COVAX Facility, the worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.

The donation is expected to arrive in the country before the end of March.

“So, in all meron na tayong concrete na plano sa almost 1.4 million doses na bivalent (we already have concrete plan for the almost 1.4 million bivalent doses). So, guidelines will be issued soon so our local governments can be able to prepare already,” Vergeire said.   

Globally, bivalent Covid-19 vaccines still do not have certificate of product registration which is a requirement for selling jabs in the market.

Currently, these vaccines only have emergency use authorization (EUA) for them to be administered as primary or booster doses.

“Kapag dumating po iyan dito sa ating bansa, kelangan pa rin po ng EUA galing sa ating (When these bivalents arrive, they still need EUA from our) Philippine Food and Drug Administration,” she added.

For the first batch of donated jabs from the COVAX Facility, the A1 (health care workers), A2 (senior citizens) and A3 (individuals with comorbidities) will be prioritized in line with the conditions that have been agreed upon. ( Ma. Teresa Montemayor)