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Underdosing risk: DOH warns vs extracting over 10 doses from AstraZeneca COVID vaccine vials

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Kristine Sabillo, ABS-CBN News

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1648361" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar" style="text-align:center"><em>Video courtesy of the Department of Health</em></div><div> </div><p>MANILA — The Department of Health on Friday said that vaccinators should be careful in extracting doses from COVID-19 vaccine vials after inoculators in Region 10 (Northern Mindanao) reportedly got more than the recommended 10 shots from AstraZeneca vials, risking underdosing. </p><p>“Kapag sinabi nilang ang isang vial contains 10 doses, you expect that you can inoculate 10 individuals from that. Kaya lang, ngayon nagkakaroon tayo ng experiences na nakakapag-extract pa ng marami ang ating mga vaccinators, mga implementing units,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group during a virtual briefing.</p><p>(If they say that a vial contains 10 doses, you expect that you can inoculate 10 individuals from that. However, we’ve had experiences when our vaccinators, our implementing units were able to extract more.)</p><p>A vaccine statistics graphic released by the DOH on March 24 noted that Region 10’s administered vaccines were at 102.7% usage because “more than 10 doses were extracted from approximately 800 vials, hence the vaccination of an additional 844 eligible population and the resulting utilization rate.”</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">DOH: As of 23 March 2021, 6PM<br/><br/>98.21% of available doses have been distributed to vaccination sites across the country, equating to 1,105,500 out of 1,125,600.<br/>62.14% of allocated first doses have already been administered, totaling to 508,332 administered 1st doses.<a href="https://twitter.com/ABSCBNNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ABSCBNNews</a> <a href="https://t.co/3hFtVM26I7">pic.twitter.com/3hFtVM26I7</a></p>— Kristine Sabillo 🇵🇭 (@kristinesabillo) <a href="https://twitter.com/kristinesabillo/status/1374604929118052357?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2021</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>While there are efforts to reduce wastage of COVID-19 vaccines, Vergeire said that extracting more doses from a vial might not be the correct course of action.</p><p>This might lead to administering less than the required dose, potentially compromising the protection the vaccine could give an individual. </p><p>“Kailangan natin magbigay ng paalala, tama po ba na dose ang naibibigay natin sa bawat individual. Baka po tayo nakakapag-extract ng extra kasi hindi natin naibibigay ng tama &#x27;yung dose for every individual that we give,” she said.</p><p>(We have to give a reminder. Are we giving the proper dose to each individual? We might be extracting extra because we’re not giving the right dosage to every individual.)</p><p>The health official also pointed out that vaccines come with instructions and once the prescribed number of doses are extracted, the vial should already be disposed.</p><p>“The 10 doses are sufficient,” she said. “Gusto ko lang ibigay na paalala sa ating mga vaccinators, huwag po natin ilagay sa isip na makakatipid tayo kapagka tayo ay nakakakuha ng more than 10 doses kasi baka naman po &#x27;yung naibibigay din natin dun sa mga individuals for these ten doses ay kulang na rin.”</p><p>(We just want to remind our vaccinators, don’t think that we are being economical if we are able to get more than 10 doses because what we might be giving to the individuals might not be enough.)</p><p>The emergency use authorization document for AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine specifies that the country will receive 5 mL of solution in a 10-dose vial. Each dose should be 0.5 mL each.</p><p>ABS-CBN News reached out to DOH to ask what is now being done to address what happened to Region 10, but the agency has yet to respond. </p><p>So far, the country has received 1 million doses of Sinovac vaccines and 525,600 AstraZeneca vaccines.</p><p>More than half a million of an estimated 1.7 million health workers, who are top priority in the inoculation plan, have already been vaccinated. </p><p>Government has drawn flak for the slow rollout of vaccines since it started more than 3 weeks ago. The government aims to inoculate up to 70 million people by the end of the year to reach herd immunity.</p><div class="infogram-embed" data-id="_/yFVE69R1WlSdqY3aCsBF" data-title="COVID-19 VACCINE TRACKER PH" data-type="interactive"> </div><script type="text/javascript">!function(e,i,n,s){var t='InfogramEmbeds',d=e.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];if(window[t]&&window[t].initialized)window[t].process&&window[t].process();else if(!e.getElementById(n)){var o=e.createElement('script');o.async=1,o.id=n,o.src='https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js',d.parentNode.insertBefore(o,d)}}(document,0,'infogram-async');</script>

<p>MANILA — The Department of Health on Friday said that vaccinators should be careful in extracting doses from COVID-19 vaccine vials after Region 10 reportedly got more than the recommended 10 doses from each AstraZeneca vial they it received.<br /> </p>

MANILA — The Department of Health on Friday said that vaccinators should be careful in extracting doses from COVID-19 vaccine vials after Region 10 reportedly got more than the recommended 10 doses from each AstraZeneca vial they it received.

Underdosing risk: DOH warns vs extracting over 10 doses from AstraZeneca COVID vaccine vials

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Underdosing risk: DOH warns vs extracting over 10 doses from AstraZeneca COVID vaccine vials

Kristine Sabillo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Mar 26, 2021 07:07 PM PHT

Read More:

COVID-19 vaccine

COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines

vaccine rollout

government vaccination program

Department of Health

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