Bahrain intends to donate 590,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines to PH — Locsin

DOH hopeful to meet target to fully vax 77 million by end of June

Bahrain has expressed its intention to donate more than half a million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to the Philippines, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. disclosed.

Locsin bared the news on Twitter Monday night, May 16, saying it was relayed to him by Bahrain's foreign minister in a phone call.

"For the record, in a phone conversation with me, Foreign Minister His Excellency Abdullatif bin Rashid Zayani informed me that His Royal Highness Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa is donating 590,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines," Locsin said.

The donation would include 80,000 Pfizer BioNTech for adults, 80,000 doses of Pfizer BioNTech for children, and 430,000 doses of Sinopharm.

Locsin also disclosed that the Inter-Agency task force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases said it has purchased enough vaccines but the Foreign Affairs chief asked the pandemic task force to reconsider its decision.

In April 2022, Bahrain also committed to donate 240,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines to the Philippines.

As of May 16, more than 68 million of the country's 110-million population have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) remains hopeful that it will be able to meet its target of fully vaccinating 77 million Filipinos against Covid-19 by the end of June.

"We will do our best to reach the 77 million fully vaxxed by June 30," said DOH undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje during a public briefing on Tuesday, May 17.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III recently had a meeting with DOH regional directors, urging them to ramp up the vaccination efforts, said Cabotaje.

"Ngayon meron tayong 68.7 million fully vaccinated. So kulang pa iyan ng mga 8.3 million (Currently, we have fully vaccinated 68.7 million. We need to vaccinate 8.3 million more)," said Cabotaje.

The DOH is also focusing its efforts to increase the vaccination coverage in Calabarzon, Central

Luzon, Central Visayas, Bicol, and Soccsksargen.

Of the fully vaccinated individuals, 56.9 million adults are eligible to get their first booster shot. Only 13.6 million adults have received their booster doses.

"So, that will leave us about 43.3 million na pwede pang bakunahan ng first booster nila (who are eligible for first booster)," said Cabotaje, adding that some people do not see the "urgency" to get a booster shot yet. "While they recognize the importance of vaccination, even the booster, they do not feel the urgency kasi wala na tayong mga kaso, hindi nagsu-surge ang mga cases (because we no longer have a surge in cases). Nung nagkaroon ng Delta at Omicron surge, akala nung mga naka primary dose na tama na ang natural immunity added to their artificial immunity. (When we had the Delta and Omicron surge, those who had received their primary dose thought that natural immunity was already enough as an added [layer] to their artificial immunity)."

Meanwhile, a total of 30,912 immunocompromised individuals have received their second booster shot.

Those 18 years old and above have been allowed to receive their first booster shot. So far, only immunocompromised individuals are eligible to receive a second booster shot.

Cabotaje also said around two million Moderna vaccine doses are set to expire this month. Cabotaje assured the public that they would utilize these vaccines before their expiration dates.

"For May, we have about almost two million Moderna vaccines expiring kaya kailangan ibakuna iyan sa mga first

booster. Tapos may mga konting AstraZeneca, a few 100,000 (we have about two million Moderna vaccines that are expiring so we need to use them in administering first boosters. Then there are about 100,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses nearing expiry)," she said.

Meanwhile, the shelf life of Pfizer vaccines, which were about to expire in July and August, has been extended for another three months, Cabotaje added.