OVER a week after arriving in the Philippines, bivalent COVID-19 vaccines donated by Lithuania are set to be distributed to vaccination sites nationwide.
In a brief statement, the Department of Health (DOH) said the vaccines have been received by regional centers for health development which may directly allocate and distribute COVID-19 vaccines to the vaccination sites.”
The DOH said allocations per area have been calculated based on the number of eligible population.
Based on DOH guidelines, the bivalent vaccines will be be given to healthcare workers, listed as A1 in the vaccine’s priority list, and senior citizens (A2) who have received their second booster shots at least four to six months ago.
The DOH said it cannot provide yet the specific breakdown the allocations may still change.
For other sectors, the DOH has said it will issue guidelines if the country gets additional bivalent vaccines.
The distribution of the bivalent doses is being conducted in time for the official launch on June 21. The DOH has said the main site for the launching is at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City.
The 390,000 doses of bivalent COVID-19 vaccines arrived in the country on June 3.
The bivalent jabs are said to provide better protection against COVID-19 as they contain components of the Omicron variant and subvariants.
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa on Tuesday said the donated vaccines have a shelf life of six months, or until November, making it urgent to start using them.
He said the vaccines have been distributed to DOH regional offices where they are kept in cold storage facilities.
Herbosa also said the government is negotiating for more bivalent vaccines.
DOH data showed that 79.16 million Filipinos have completed their COVID-19 vaccination, 24.178 million have received a booster dose, while 75.7 million individuals received only the first dose. — Gerard Naval
