DOH: Over 1M of 1.5M soon-to-expire AstraZeneca vaccines administered
CNN Philippines — The Philippines has to use up 497,000 AstraZeneca vaccines as first dose before they expire on June 30, a health official said on Wednesday.
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said over 1 million out of the 1.5 million AstraZeneca doses that will expire next month have been administered as first dose.
“Almost 497,000 na lang ang kailangan natin maturok as first dose. We are confident by end of June nai-jab na itong remaining as first doses,” she said in a media briefing.
[Translation: We only need to administer almost 497,000 first doses. We are confident that we can use these by end of June.]
Meanwhile, the 500,000 doses expiring in July are currently being used as the second dose of those who received their first AstraZeneca shot back in March. The interval between inoculations is 12 weeks.
The 2,030,400 doses nearing expiration came from the donation of global initiative COVAX, which the country received this month. The World Health Organization said two million more AstraZeneca
