Use expiring COVID-19 vax doses in house-to-house drive – Duterte

Ilocos Norte residents receive COVID-19 vaccines in a mega vaccination facility in Laoag. This phot was taken in November 2021. (Photo courtesy of the Ilocos Norte provincial government)

MANILA, Philippines — The COVID-19 vaccine doses that are nearing expiry can be used in a house-to-house drive, President Rodrigo Duterte suggested on Tuesday in his weekly taped “Talk to the People” briefing,

The doses in question are not excess orders, he pointed out. They are ready to be used, except that many Filipinos refuse to be vaccinated.

“If there are many Filipinos who refuse to be vaccinated, it’s not the government’s fault for buying [vaccines] commensurate to the number of Filipinos we hoped to be vaccinated,” Duterte said, speaking in a mix of English and Filipino.

“The vaccines are here and ready to be utilized just in case a good number of the Filipinos remaining and refusing to be vaccinated would want them. Otherwise, there’s nothing we can do,” he added. “The most we can do is a last-minute program. We embark on a program to deliver the vaccines house-to-house in the countryside.”

In line with this, Duterte urges the New People’s Army not to harm healthcare workers who would conduct the drive.

Duterte offered the suggestion after learning of a statement from his adviser for entrepreneurship, Joey Concepcion, that some 27 million COVID-19 vaccine doses would expire in July.

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