COTABATO CITY—At least 348 vials of Coronavac, the coronavirus vaccine manufactured by Chinese firm Sinovac, had been left in a freezer without electricity during the weekend and may have been damaged and rendered unfit for human use, according to a Cotabato provincial official on Thursday (May 13). Earlier, Dr. Eva Rabaya, Cotabato provincial health chief, said the vaccines had been unwittingly kept in a freezer without electricity for more than two days in Makilala town, Cotabato. A brownout that occurred in the town at 12:30 p.m. last Friday (May 7) prompted health workers and the police to place the vials inside the freezer of the Makilala town police office where there was a generator. “Nobody noticed that the freezer was not switched on,” said Lito Cañedo, Makilala IATF spokesperson. Soon after the discovery, health workers turned on the freezer on but it took another day for town health officials to send the vials to the DOH for inspection.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer May 13, 2021 11:06 UTC