Soon-to-expire Astrazeneca jabs to be given to health-care workers, other priority groups

THE government is now targeting to use all of its 2 million doses of Astrazeneca vaccine before July when the said jabs will expire, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

In an interview with PTV, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said 500,000 of the said doses would be distributed to those who already got their first dose of the Astrazeneca jabs.

The remaining 1.5 million doses, she said, will all be used as first dose to priority sectors of the government, particularly health-care worker (A1), senior citizens (A2), and those with comorbidities (A3).

DOH assurance came amid concerns that 2 million additional Astrazeneca vaccine may end up being wasted due to product expiration.

Cabotaje said they are confident local government units (LGU) will be able to swiftly administer the 2 million Astrazeneca vaccines from the Vaccines Global Access (Covax) Facility.

“Based on our experience from the past, when we allowed all of the [Astrazeneca] vaccines to be used as first dose...we were able to have an accomplishment one time highest—90,000 [administered doses] per day,” Cabotaje said.

The health official said they have already deployed 1.6 million of the 2 million Astrazeneca vaccines to LGUS.

Although pressed for time to complete the administration of the Astrazeneca vaccines before July, DOH said it could allocate and administer the said jabs to economic frontliners as an option.

She explained all the vaccines, which include the 2 million Astrazeneca vaccines and the 193,050 Pfizerbiontech vaccines obtained from the Covax Facility could only be used for the A1, A2, and A3 priority sector.

With the arrival of the additional vaccines from the Covax Facility this month, Cabotaje said they expect to raise the number of vaccinated people from 30,000 per day to at 60,000 to 70,000 per day.