Latest AZ shipment to be given as 2nd doses

MANILA – The government will allocate most of the newly arrived AstraZeneca vaccine as second dose for those who received their initial shots between May and June.

The 1.5 million doses out of the latest shipment of 2,028,000 doses, which arrived Friday, will be administered as second doses, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., Chief Implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19, said in a statement.

Another 500,000 doses will be deployed to areas with a large population of senior citizens (A2) and adults with co-morbidities (A3).

“Our vaccine supply from COVAX will be utilized for our vulnerable sector, A1 (health care workers and their families), A2, and A3, while prioritizing those in vulnerable communities in different regions,” Galvez said.

Galvez reported the Philippines had administered two doses to 8,274,916 elderly, while 2,632,861 received their first doses.

A total of 1,039,710 belonging to the A3 category are also fully protected while 3,184,933 had their initial shots.

The COVAX Facility, led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Gavi Alliance, delivered its sixth jab shipment on Friday.

The initial delivery of 525,600 AstraZeneca doses arrived in two batches in March, followed by 2,030,400 doses in May.

So far, the Philippines has received 20,739,770 doses as of July 9.