Gov’t ‘doing best’ to assure arrival of AstraZeneca 2nd doses – Galvez

Philippine vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr said the government is still trying to secure second doses for persons who have already received their first shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The government is doing its best, he said on Tuesday, April 6, amid uncertainty over when the expected delivery of 979,200 doses of the vaccine from the COVAX Facility will arrive.

“Ginagawa po natin ang lahat ng magagawa, may mga diplomatic relation natin ngayon para makapag-produce tayo ng AstraZeneca vaccine,” said Galvez during a Malacañang news briefing.

(We are doing everything we can, using our diplomatic relations, so we can produce AstraZeneca vaccines.)

He even said that if the COVAX Facility shipments don’t arrive on time, the government could fall back on AstraZeneca doses it procured through direct arrangements with AstraZeneca itself.

“Umaasa po kami na mayroon po tayong makukuha considering that mayroon din tayong procurement. And rest assured na we will do our best na iyong second dose ng 525,600 doses ay magagawa po natin iyan,” said Galvez.

(We are hoping that we will get something because we also have procurement. And rest assured that we will do our best to get second doses for the 525,600 doses.)

Galvez also said he received assurance from the World Health Organization (WHO) that the AstraZeneca shipment could arrive in late April.

Decision to use all AstraZeneca doses in PH as first doses

Back in March 15, Galvez and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III proposed to Duterte that all 525,600 AstraZeneca doses already in the country be used as first doses in order to cover more people.

This was in contrast to Sinovac doses presently in the country which were divided into first and second doses.

Duque and Galvez reasoned that because the time between the first and second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine is 12 weeks or two months, it would be highly likely that a new shipment would arrive by that time.

This does not apply to the Sinovac doses which are taken 28 days apart, or less than one month.

Duterte approved Duque’s and Galvez’s proposal.

Because some Filipinos got their first AstraZeneca shots in March, they are due for a second dose in May or a month from now.

‘Indefinite’

So vague is the timeline of arrivals of COVAX Facility vaccines that Galvez considers the schedule “indefinite” and no longer includes the expected shipments in his presentations on vaccine arrivals.

“Ang ginagawa ko, hindi ko na po nilalagay iyong ano, iyong sa COVAX considering that ano iyan eh, indefinite kasi iyong kanilang delivery,” he said on Tuesday.

(I no longer put COVAX considering that the delivery is indefinite.)

Galvez said the WHO, including WHO country representative Dr Rabindra Abeyasinghe, appears to be struggling to come up with the vaccines the COVAX Facility promised to 92 countries.

“Nakita naming hirap na hirap na rin si Dr Rabi. And I really empathize with them na talagang nahihirapan po sila na makakuha ng vaccines, especially po iyong AstraZeneca,” said the vaccine czar.

(We observed that Dr Rabi is having a hard time. And I really empathize with them because they are having a hard time getting vaccines, especially AstraZeneca.)

In late March, India temporarily halted exports of AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured by the Serum Institute of India for the COVAX Facility in order to meet domestic demand for jabs.

The shipment intended for the Philippines and other countries were affected.

This month, the government still expects 1.5 million doses from Sinovac and the Philippines’ first delivery of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, numbering 500,000 doses. – Rappler.com