President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the use of all on-hand 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine against coronavirus disease as first dose for healthcare workers, Malacanang said on Friday.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea issued a memorandum regarding Duterte's approval.

"Please be informed that the President has approved the request to utilize all on-hand COVAX donated AstraZeneca vaccine doses as first dose vaccination in order to protect a larger number of frontline healthcare workers in areas witnessing increased transmission," he said quoting Medialdea.

The 525,600 AstraZeneca vaccine doses were donation under the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility.

With Duterte's approval, National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer and Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said 825,200 healthcare workers would initially be protected by having the first dose of the vaccine.

The dosing interval for the AstraZeneca vaccine is from four to 12 weeks computed from the date of the first dose.

Aside from AstraZeneca, the government has been using 600,000 doses of China's donated Sinovac vaccine for frontline health workers.

The Duterte administration has yet to receive more COVID-19 vaccine doses from various pharmaceutical companies. Celerina Monte/DMS