MANILA, Philippines — The COVAX facility will replace around 3.6 million expired COVID-19 vaccines in the Philippines, the Department of Health said.
The replacement of jabs comes with no additional cost, health chief Francisco Duque III said in a briefing aired Wednesday.
According to Duque, the expired COVID-19 shots made up 1.46% of the country’s vaccine inventory.
“Papalitan ‘yan. Ire-replace ng COVAX facility. Nag-meeting na kami kahapon at mayroon na silang sulat sa atin,” he said, noting the global vaccine-sharing initiative has a stockpile of vaccines with longer shelf life.
(Those will be replaced by COVAX facility. We had a meeting yesterday and they wrote us a letter.)
The COVAX facility, backed by the World Health Organization and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, delivers COVID-19 vaccines to the world’s most vulnerable people.
The DOH secretary added that he and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. also asked the COVAX facility to replace expired jabs that the government had procured.
The Philippines still has 98 million COVID-19 shots in its inventory, Galvez said.
More than 67.4 million Filipinos have completed vaccination against COVID-19. Of the figure, only 12.9 million have gotten boosters.
The country began giving second COVID-19 booster doses to immunocompromised adults. Authorities have been urging unvaccinated people to get immunized, and those who are eligible for booster shots to get additional protection.