Enough vaccine supply for health workers

The Philippines has sufficient anti-coronavirus vaccines for local health workers, the Department of Health (DoH) said Saturday, after President Rodrigo Duterte said the first batch of jabs were “barely enough” for them.

We have enough vaccines when we talk about our priority sector of health workers. In fact, we prioritized them in the program.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire assured the public that the three million doses of Covid-19 vaccines that arrived in the country were adequate for 1.2 million shortlisted medical frontliners nationwide.

“We have enough vaccines when we talk about our priority sector of health workers. In fact, we prioritized them in the program,” she said in vernacular during a televised briefing.

“We have enough supply for an estimate of 1.8 million health workers. But for now, (only 1.2 million) were only listed maybe because they are still thinking of getting the shots,” Vergeire added.

The three million vaccine doses used by the country in its immunization program were given in two doses up to 12 weeks apart.

The supply is composed of 2.5 million vaccine doses from Sinovac Biotech and 525,600 doses from Oxford-AstraZeneca.

On Thursday night, Duterte lamented that the first batch of vaccine supplies donated by China were “barely enough” to inoculate local health workers.

He also admitted he does not know when would the Philippines receive an ample supply of Covid-19 vaccines, saying the public should brace for more deaths with the pandemic dragging on much longer.

“We have received vaccines and they arrived little by little. And to maybe to our sadness, the stocks that are coming in are barely enough to inoculate the health workers who are on top of our priority,” the President said.

“When will we have those stocks to vaccinate the people? I really do not know. Nobody knows,” Duterte added.

Most recent data

The most recent data from the health department showed that over one million Filipinos have been inoculated using Covid-19 shots as of 13 April.

Of these, 162,065 Filipinos were fully vaccinated, which means they received two doses of shots either from Sinovac or AstraZeneca. Meanwhile, 1,093,651 people were still waiting to receive their second doses.

It was unclear how many of them were health workers, the elderly, and people with underlying medical conditions who were given the shots during simultaneous vaccinations as of 13 April.

According to the advisory, all regions have started administering the second dose for health workers to maximize their protection against Covid-19.

Previously, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said over 865,000 medical frontliners have been inoculated.

The Philippines aims to vaccinate 70 million people against Covid-19 by the end of the year to achieve herd immunity, but the DoH has admitted that achieving the target depends on vaccine supply.

“It will all depend on the overall supply globally. We are all dependent on the supplies that will be coming in the country,” Vergeire said.

Some 1.5 million vaccine doses from Sinovac are expected to arrive in the country this month and another two million in May.

The Philippines is also expecting the delivery of four million AstraZeneca vaccine doses from April to May. The first batch of shots from Moderna might also arrive next month, officials have said.

Some 2.4 million vaccines shots from Pfizer-BioTech might be shipped from July to September.

Duterte, in his recent speech, has attributed the vaccine supply shortage to increasing global demand, adding that rich countries cannot let go of their stocks.

The Philippine leader had a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Tuesday to discuss the arrival Russian-made vaccine, and he may also talk to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to boost the country’s supply of shots, the Palace has said.

The government so far signed contracts with Sinovac to secure 25 million doses, AstraZeneca for 17 million doses, Moderna for 20 million doses, and Novavax for 30 million doses.

Meanwhile, negotiations for 20 to 40 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine from American firm Pfizer-BioNTech, six million doses from Johnson & Johnson, and 20 million doses from Russia’s Gamaleya were still ongoing.

Vergeire assured the public that the three million doses of Covid-19 vaccines that arrived in the country were adequate for 1.2 million shortlisted medical frontliners nationwide.