PH runs out of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses

MANILA, Philippines — The country has run out of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently awaiting additional documents from China’s Sinovac Biotech on the safety of its COVID-19 vaccine for the elderly as AstraZeneca doses have already run out.

“We have coordinated [with Sinovac] already because we know na kailangan natin sa ating country because naubos na ang AstraZeneca doses natin,” Vergeire said in an online press briefing.

(We have coordinated with Sinovac already because we know we need vaccines in the country as AstraZeneca doses have already run out.)

“Gusto natin mabakunahan ang mga matatanda, ang ating mga senior citizens (We want the elderly or senior citizens vaccinated) that’s why we are closely coordinating so we can get the evidence, so FDA can amend their EUA for senior citizens if ever the pieces of evidence will come in,” she added.

AstraZeneca earlier said its COVID-19 vaccine is 80 percent effective at preventing the disease among the elderly.

But for CoronaVac, Sinovac’s vaccine, the FDA only recommended its use for clinically healthy individuals aged 18 to 59 because of the higher efficacy rate among this age group.

Data from the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 showed that as of April 3, a total of 795,320 Filipinos have received their first vaccine dose.

The figure is composed of 765,871 health workers, 16,121 senior citizens, and 13,288 individuals with comorbidity, according to the NTF.