(Eagle News) – Muntinlupa City said that a still undetermined number of Pfizer doses may have been inappropriately stored at the Festival Mall facility that could have affected its efficacy and would thus not be used anymore.
In a statement, the Muntinlupa City government said that based on their initial study the Pfizer doses at the Festival Mall had not been stored at the required temperature for this type of vaccine.
“Ayon sa inisyal na pagsusuri, nagkaroon ng pagbabago sa temperature na maaaring makaapekto sa kalidad ng bakuna. Prayoridad natin ang kapakanan ng bawat isa kaya’t nagdesisyon pong huwag nang gamitin ang mga bakunang ito,” the statement said.
(Based on our initial study, there had been a change in the temperature that could affect the quality of the vaccines. Our priority is the welfare of each citizen so we decided not to use anymore the vaccines.)
“Mas mabuti na pong sigurado tayo dahil kaligtasan ng mga babakunahan ang nakasalalay dito,” it noted.
(It is better to be sure because the safety of those who would receive the vaccines is what is at stake here)
The statement did not say how many Pfizer doses had been inappropriately stored at the mall.
But the Department of Health (DOH) said that the vaccine experts would still validate the efficacy of the Pfizer doses referred to by Muntinlupa City.
In a post on July 15, Muntinlupa City said that it would be resuming its first dose vaccination at the Festival Mall Hub today, July 16.
According to the US Department of Health’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Pfizer vaccines, before mixing, “may be stored in an ultra-cold freezer between -80°C and -60°C (-112°F and -76°F)” for those stored in ultra-cold storage.
For the vaccines stored in the freezer, “before mixing, the vaccine may be stored in the freezer between -25°C and -15°C (-13°F to 5°F) for up to 2 weeks. This beyond-use date replaces the manufacturer’s expiration date. The total time vials are stored at these temperatures should be tracked and should not exceed 2 weeks.”
On May 19, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that Pfizer Inc., submitted new data that would make its COVID-19 vaccines widely available.
“Pfizer Inc. submitted data to the FDA to support storage of undiluted, thawed vials of its COVID-19 vaccine for up to one month at refrigerator temperatures,” it said.
“After analyzing the data submitted by Pfizer, the US FDA said it was “authorizing undiluted, thawed Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine vials to be stored in the refrigerator at 2°C to 8°C (35°F to 46°F) for up to 1 month.”
“Previously, thawed, undiluted vaccine vials could be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days,” it said in a statement.
“Pfizer Inc. submitted data to the FDA to demonstrate that undiluted, thawed vials of its COVID-19 vaccine are stable at refrigerator temperatures for up to 1 month.”
(Eagle News)