The Department of Health (DOH) clarified on Tuesday that the country has enough supply of syringes ahead of the three-day national vaccine drive.
DOH spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a press briefing that the country has enough syringe supply, particularly for the Pfizer vaccines, which will be using an alternative one.
"Meron po tayong sapat na supply, bagamat ang atin pong ideal na ginagamit for these Pfizer vaccines would be the .3ml na hiringgilya, ngunit because of the global shortage, tayo po ay gumagamit ngayon ng alternative, which are tuberculin syringes," she said.
(We have enough syringe supply, even if the ideal used for Pfizer vaccines is .3ml syringes, but because of the global shortage, we will be using an alternative, which are tuberculin syringes.)
According to Vergeire, the department distributed funds to the regions so they can buy the alternative syringe.
Meanwhile, she also said that the country received from the United Nations Children's Fund about 3.6-million worth of .3ml syringes that were distributed to different regions.
"Sapat naman po ang ang ating mga pangangailangan for now," she said.
(We have enough supply for our needs for now.)
The government is also expecting another 40 million .3ml syringes early next year to give the country enough supply.
"So we are forecasting na pagdating po ng next year, we will have enough supply of .3ml syringes," she said.
(So we are forecasting that by next year, we will have enough supply of .3ml syringes.)
The statement came after Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. traded barbs after the latter accused that the government "dropped the ball" on 50 million syringes from the United States.
Duque, however, denied this and tagged the secretary's statement as lies.
