Near-expiry Moderna vaccines already being used — DOH

MANILA, Philippines — The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses from the private sector that are expiring in November are already being used in vaccination sites, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) said Thursday.

According to Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, the vaccines were distributed to areas that performed well in vaccination and have a cold chain capacity.

“’Yung Moderna vaccines expiring November 30, we have already deployed all of them. Jinajab na ito,” she said in an online media forum.

(The Moderna vaccines expiring on November 30 are already deployed. They are now being jabbed.)

Cabotaje said most of the areas that received the Moderna shots are located in Central Luzon and Calabarzon because they can vaccinate fast and because they are near Metro Manila where the vaccines were earlier stored.

“We are targeting this week para maibigay na lahat ang hindi pa naibigay. Two weeks lang dapat ubos na ‘yan,” she added.

(We are targeting to distribute the remaining vaccines this week. These should be used within two weeks.)

On Monday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the private sector has loaned 356,000 doses of Moderna vaccine nearing expiration to the government in order to avoid wastage.

According to Cabotaje, some of the Moderna vaccines from the private sector were not used because many of their employees were already vaccinated by the national government ahead of time.

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