DOH: Lifting of COVID-19 emergency won't affect arrival of bivalent vaccines

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 16) — The World Health Organization's declaration that COVID-19 no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) will not derail the expected arrival of bivalent vaccines in the country next week, the Department of Health said Tuesday.

"The lifting of the PHEIC doesn't have any effect sa ating pagtanggap ng donasyon ng bakuna na dadating na next week," Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said at a briefing, referring to WHO's announcement earlier this month.

[Translation: The lifting of the PHEIC doesn't have any effect on the arrival of the vaccines next week.]

Vergeire said around 391,000 doses will arrive "hopefully" by next week. These vaccines were donated by an unnamed country.

Another two million vaccines from the COVAX facility are also being discussed.

"Meron na ring pakikipag-usap ulit sa COVAX kung saan tinuloy na yung negosasyon na ating sinagawa nung first quarter na tayo ay nakipag-usap na interesado tayong matanggap pa rin yung additional two million doses from the facility," Vergeire said.

[Translation: There are discussions again with COVAX. We resumed negotiations that happened during the first quarter where we said we were interested to receive the additional two million doses from the facility.]

The DOH earlier said health workers and those included in the vulnerable groups — senior citizens and individuals with comorbidities — would be prioritized to receive bivalent vaccines.

Meanwhile, Vergeire said they submitted to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday a memo containing recommendations on COVID-19 that were discussed in the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF). However, no details are available.

"Ang masasabi ko lang sa inyo pagkatapos namin maibigay yung memo for the president, napagkasunduan na ng mga opisyales ng IATF that we will already draft for whatever decision the president will be, we are prepared and will submit to him a draft declaration if ever," she said.

[Translation: What I can say is after we gave the memo to the president, IATF officials agreed that we will already draft for whatever decision the president will make, we are prepared and will submit to him a draft declaration.]