Muntinlupa City defers vaccination in Festival Mall due to vaccine storage issue

A patient receives a COVID-19 vaccine. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — The local government of Muntinlupa on Thursday suspended vaccination in one of its jab sites – Festival Mall – after encountering problems with vaccine storage, affecting an undisclosed number of people due for inoculation against the deadly COVID-19.

“Ayon sa inisyal na pagsusuri, nagkaroon ng pagbabago sa temperatura na maaaring makaapekto sa kalidad ng bakuna,” the city government announced through its vaccination Facebook page, Muncovac.

(Based on the initial evaluation, there was a change in temperature that could affect the quality of the vaccine.)

“Prayoridad natin ang kapakanan ng bawat isa kaya’t nagdesisyon pong huwag nang gamitin ang mga bakunang ito. Mas mabuti na pong sigurado tayo dahil kaligtasan ng mga babakunahan ang nakasalalay dito,” it added.

(We prioritize the welfare of everyone so we decided not to use these vaccines anymore. We better be sure because the safety of those who are vaccinated depends on it.)

It was also not clear how many vials or doses of the still-unidentified anti-coronavirus vaccine may have been damaged because of the issue with storage temperature.

The city government, however, apologized to those scheduled to receive their vaccine in the Festival Mall Vaccination Site and asked to wait for further announcements on their new schedule.

“Nakikipag-ugnayan na ang pamunuan ng Vaccination Team sa National Government para sa nararapat na aksyon,” Muntinlupa government said.

(The leadership of the Vaccination Team is already in touch with the National Government for appropriate action.)

“Sinisiguro nating mabibigyan ng bakuna ang mga apektado ng insidenteng ito, lalo ang mga naka-schedule ng second dose,” it added.

(We will make sure that those affected by this incident, especially those scheduled for the second dose, will be vaccinated.)

https://www.facebook.com/MunCoVac/posts/123610829929351

Muntinlupa City has yet to make public how many people and what brand of vaccines were affected by this incident. However, comments from netizens on Muncovac’s Facebook post who claimed they were at the site said the vaccines that were supposed to be administered were the COVID-19 jab developed by Pfizer BioNTech.

“We’re still checking with Muncovac as to the numbers,” the city’s information office told reporters.

“Not sure yet, DOH will check,” it added.

According to the National Vaccination Task Force and the Department of Health (DOH), the second dose for COVID-19 can be delayed up to six months.

Meanwhile as of July 12, 223,436 vaccines have already been deployed in Muntinlupa, of which 152,900 (39.6 percent of the target) were used for the first dose of its target population and 70,536 for the second dose.

Muntinlupa targets to inoculate 385,725 residents which is 70 percent of 551,036, the city’s estimated population for 2020.

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