VACCINES. Bureau of Customs and Department of Health personnel inspect some of the shipment of 3,999,060 doses of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine at the NAIA Terminal 1 in Parañaque City on March 7, 2022. The vaccines are donated by the US government through the COVAX facility. (PNA photo by Joey O. Razon)
MANILA – Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion has reminded Filipinos to get their booster shots in order not to waste the 27 million doses of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines that will expire this July.
During the Laging Handa public briefing Wednesday, Concepcion said these vaccines that are set to expire are worth PHP40 billion.
He said most of these vaccines are from COVAX.
The private sector has also donated some of these Covid-19 jabs.
“That doesn’t cost the government anything but it costs us something,” he added.
The Palace adviser said that apart from trying to save the spending for these vaccines, these jabs will save lives amid threats of possible new Covid-19 strains and the country’s gains in economic reopening and recovery.
“Let’s protect ourselves and allow the economy to grow and help our citizens,” Concepcion said.
He said medical experts have been echoing the threat of a resurgence of the virus, and getting booster shots will help the citizens to get protected.
Concepcion reminded Filipinos that the primary doses start to wane around five months after the last inoculation.
“Cases are moving up. This may be due to waning immunity as the booster uptake remains very poor. We’re trying to prevent people from getting severely ill and overwhelming the healthcare system. We want to maintain the Alert Level 1 status, but we need people to stay healthy and keep the engines of the economy running,” he added. (PNA)
