Philippines to continue rollout of AstraZeneca vaccines
MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today said they find no reason to suspend AstraZeneca vaccination in the country as its benefits continue to outweigh the risk.
The statement comes after reports of a few European Union countries have suspended their COVID-19 vaccination program as a precautionary measure.
“The DOH-FDA find no reason to suspend AZ vaccine in the Philippines as benefits of vaccination continue to outweigh the risk,” the statement said.
However, they said the Department of Health, the National Task Force and the Food and Drug Administration will closely monitor the vaccine deployment program.
Other countries have opted to suspend their roll-out due fears of blot clot incidents.
It will be recalled over 480,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines arrived in the Philippines from the COVAX Facility over a week ago. Today, there are 525,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines in the Philippines.
President Rodrigo Duterte personally welcomed the arrival of the vaccines at the Villamor Air Base. He was accompanied by other government officials with Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III and WHO Representative to the Philippines Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe.
The Philippines is among the first countries in Southeast Asia to receive the facility.
It will be recalled the Chinese government sent 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines to arrive in the Philippines, last Sunday, March 1 and has been rolled-out to different parts of the country from March 2 onwards. (Melo M. Acuña)
President Rodrigo Duterte holding a vial of AstraZeneca vaccine on its arrival last March 4,2021 on board a KLM- Royal Dutch Airline. (Screen grab from PTV4/PCOO/RTVM/Melo M. Acuna)
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