DOH: Nearly 400K doses of bivalent COVID-19 jabs expected to arrive next week

Nearly 400,000 doses of bivalent COVID-19 vaccines are expected to arrive next week, the Department of Health said Tuesday.

“These bivalent vaccines which is around 391,000 doses will be arriving hopefully next week already. Natapos na natin lahat ng kailangan isumite nakapagbigay naman ng commitment yung bansang magbibigay sa atin that by next week hopefully we receive it already,” DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said at a media forum.

(These bivalent vaccines which are around 391,000 doses will be arriving hopefully next week already. We have finished everything that needs to be submitted and the country that will give it to us made a commitment that by next week hopefully, we will receive it already.)

“Kaya ngayong linggo, busy ang ating mga implementing units dahil sila ay pinupulong talaga para mabigyan ng orientation kung paano isasagawa ang pagpapatupad ng pagbibigay ng bivalent vaccines among our priority groups for this time being,” she added.

(So this week, our implementing units are busy because they are actually meeting to give orientation on how to carry out the implementation of giving bivalent vaccines among our priority groups for the time being.)

Bivalent vaccines are second-generation jabs that target the Omicron variant.

Vergeire maintained that the lifting of COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern does not have any effect on the arrival of the vaccines next week.

The DOH OIC also said they resumed discussion with the COVAX facility and still expressed interest in receiving the additional two million doses of vaccines from the facility.

“Another thing meron na tayong pakikipagusap ulit sa COVAX kung saan tinuloy na natin yung ating negosasyon na atin pong sinagawa noong first quarter na tayo po ay nakipagusap na at interesado matanggap pa rin yung additional two million doses from COVAX facility,” she said.

(Another thing is that we are having another conversation with COVAX where we have continued our negotiations that we did in the first quarter when we talked and expressed that we are still interested in receiving the additional two million doses from COVAX facility.)

She earlier said that the first batch of donated bivalent vaccines was supposed to arrive by the end of March. This consists of 1,002,000 doses which the COVAX committed to the Philippines.

Vergeire, meanwhile, refuted reports that there were delays in the arrival of bivalent vaccines.

The DOH official also bared that five vaccine manufacturers have applied for a certificate of product registration (CPR) with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“So we already have five manufacturers which have applied already with FDA. Last December 29, I think we mentioned this to all of you already nagapply na ang AstraZeneca. Last February, J&J ang nag-apply. Last March, nag-apply po ang Pfizer. Itong April 26 nag-apply ang Zuellig for their Moderna vaccine. And March 30 naman po may nag-apply naman po yung SpikoGen,” she said.

(So we already have five manufacturers which have already applied with the FDA. Last December 29, I think we mentioned to all of you that AstraZeneca has already applied. Last February, J&J applied. Last March, Pfizer applied. This April 26, Zuellig applied for their Moderna vaccine. And on March 30, SpikoGen applied.)

“All of these are applications, so hindi pa 'yan sinasabi na natanggap na 'yung application. Dahil 'pag nag-apply kayo, ine-evaluate pa ng FDA kung worthy na tanggapin ibig sabihin naka-comply kayo, kumpleto. It doesn't mean na 'pag sinabi ko sa inyo ngayon dito, natanggap na and pinoproseso na,” she added.

(All of these are applications, so that does not mean that the application has been received. Because when you apply, the FDA still evaluates whether it is worthy to be accepted, which means you have complied, completely. It doesn't mean that 'when I told you here today, it has already been received and is being processed.)

Vergeire earlier asked manufacturers of vaccines against COVID-19 to apply for CPR should the country declare an end to the public health emergency.

She said the authority of the FDA to issue emergency use authorization (EUA) for COVID-19 vaccines would be gone once the Philippines’ own public health emergency is lifted.

Vergeire said that the Philippines may only declare an end to its state of public health emergency due to COVID-19 if infections and hospital utilization remain manageable. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News