MANILA, Philippines — Government on Thursday said it is looking to vaccinate health workers who are also senior citizens with the AstraZeneca, whose doses are due to arrive in the country later tonight after figuring in delays.
The delivery of 487,200 doses under the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility comes as the country is days into its inoculation efforts, with so far the Sinovac as the only choice.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles in a briefing recognized the Chinese-made jabs' limitation of only being recommended by the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group for 18 to 59-years-old.
This leaves out those 60 and above, including medical personnel who have continued in their duties.
"The Astrazeneca vaccine has no limts on age," he said. "So we will await for the advice of the NITAG [if] we can use this for senior citizens who are health workers and can't be inoculated with the Sinovac."
Vaccinations in the Philippines began on March 1, with health workers the first to receive the jabs despite an earlier advice by the Food and Drug Administration against it.
To date, Nograles said 8,559 have already been inoculated, which includes some administration officials in a bid to allay public concerns over Sinovac.
Speaking to CNN Philippines' "The Source," vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said too that doctors are pushing to prioritize elderly health workers to receive the AstraZeneca.
He added that inoculations are already ongoing in 32 hospitals, with efforts soon expanding to Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Cebu City as more than 190,000 doses of Sinovac were already transported nationwide.
The administration first said the jabs from the COVAX facility, that is AstraZeneca including 117,000 doses from Pfizer, will arrive in the country by February 15.
But hopes by many for vaccines that have reported higher efficacy rates were met with delays due to the lack of an indemnity agreement.
Latest allocation figures from the COVAX published showed that the Philippines is due to receive 4.58 million doses of AstraZeneca, from the earlier 5.5 million given by officials.
Galvez, who yesterday was hesitant to confirm the arrival of the said jabs, told CNN Philippines as well that the delivery is slated by 7:30 p.m. tonight.