Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the government is planning to donate nearly expiring COVID-19 vaccine doses to other countries like Myanmar, Cambodia and some nations in Africa with low vaccine coverage.

"Well, you know the doses near its expiration, the decision for that is to donate it to other countries with low vaccine coverage," he said.

"The purpose is good because we want to help our brothers from other countries with COVID-19 surge but do not have enough supply of vaccines," he added.

In her recent interview, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said the vaccination vs COVID-19 in the country has slowed down in the past week.

Cabotaje said they are still conducting an inventory on the number of expiring vaccine doses.

Duque said there are AstraZeneca vaccine doses that are nearing expiry. He also noted that the vaccine manufacturer approved the extension of its shelf life and it is waiting for the approval of the Food and Drug Administration.

"Those that are nearing its expiration were extended, It is good news that it was approved by AstraZeneca, but we are waiting for the FDA to approve this extension of shelf life by three months," he said.

The country has a total of 227,494,890 doses of vaccines sourced from donations and procured by the government and the private sector.

As of March 5, the National Vaccination Operations Center said there are 136,809,870 total doses administered nationwide. Robina Asido/DMS