Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Friday warned that they might cease to allocate Pfizer anti-Covid-19 vaccine to local government units (LGUs) that could only result in spoilage.
“We will not give them Pfizer anymore. Imi-minimize natin ang vaccines na hindi nila kaya i-handle [We will minimize the vaccines that they can’t handle]. We will sanction the LGU and the vaccine safety officer,” said Galvez, chief implementer of the National Task Force Against Covid-19, at a media forum of the Department of Health (DOH), when asked of his reaction on the reported vaccine wastage of undetermined doses of Pfizer vaccine in Muntinlupa City on July 15.
“Sa ngayon, ang bakuna ay ginto, so dapat ang lahat ng nakakatanggap nito na LGU, [As of now, we consider Covid-19 vaccines as gold, so the LGUs who will receive these] they have to preserve the efficacy and safety of vaccines,” Galvez said.
In an advisory on July 15, Muntinlupa City admitted that the safety and efficacy of the Pfizer vaccines stored at the Festival Mall may have been compromised due to “the change in temperature.”
With this, the city government informed the residents that they will no longer use the vaccines.
Galvez lamented that such an incident occurred, stressing that there is only a limited vaccine supply in the country.
He reminded the LGUs to handle the vaccines being allocated to them safely stressing that once vaccines are compromised, “it will endanger the health of the people.”