The San Juan City local government rolls out the first doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for inoculation on June 30, 2021 at the Filoil Flying V Center. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News
MANILA - The Department of Health has deployed all near-expiry Moderna vaccines bought by the private sector, an official said Thursday.
The jabs, set to expire by Nov. 30, were bought by private firms whose employees have already been vaccinated by the government, said DOH Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje.
These were loaned by the private sector to prevent wastage, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire had said.
"We have already deployed all of them. Binigay natin ito sa areas na maganda ang performance at syempre may cold chain capacity," Cabotaje told reporters.
(We've given this to areas with good performance and cold chain capacity.)
"Dinidistribute na, binabakuna na sa areas na inidentify mostly (sa) Region 3 (Central Luzon) and 4A (Calabarzon) kasi sila ang pinakamabilis at sila ang pinakamaraming di nababakunahan. We're targeting this week para mabigay na lahat ang 'di pa nabigay...2 weeks lang dapat ubos na 'yan."
(We're distributing it, administering it in areas identified in Region 3 and Region 4-A because they do it fast and they have few number of vaccinated individuals. We aim to distribute everything this week...all doses should be administered in 2 weeks.)
The country has so far fully vaccinated 26.5 million against the respiratory illness while 31 million have received an initial dose, according to government data.
It aims to inoculate up to 77 million to achieve population protection and to safely reopen the economy.
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