THE Department of Health (DOH) yesterday defended the high number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines that have been wasted and has recently become the subject of the ire of some senators.
In a press conference, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said it is not out of the ordinary to have 31.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines wasted if compared to the experiences of other countries.
“It is not just the Philippines that is experiencing this kind of situation in terms of logistics and supplies,” said Vergeire.
“We are seeing more and more that the other countries are having this kind of expirations or wastage of vaccines,” she added without elaborating.
The DOH officer-in-charge added that the 31.3 million doses of wasted vaccines is within the threshold set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The DOH has previously acknowledged that the total vaccine wastage in the country is 12.5 percent of the total 250.38 million doses, or 31.3 million.
“The (WHO) specifically said that because of (the) evolving nature of the pandemic, it (allowed vaccine wastage percentage) is around 25 to 30 percent,” Vergeire said.
“The Philippines considers this as being still within that level that is acceptable,” Vergeire said in defense of the 12.5 percent wastage rate.
Last week, Sen. Pia Cayetano revealed that about 31.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were either wasted or not used in the country.
Among the reasons cited for the wastage of vaccines were expiration, short shelf life, damage due to natural disaster as well as damage due to temperature, discoloration, and having particulate or floating matters.
VAX EFFORTS
Given the prodding of several senators to reduce vaccine wastage, Vergeire assured that efforts continue to increase vaccination and booster coverage in the country.
This, she said, includes the forging of partnerships among non-government organizations (NGOs) and the private sector.
“We are intensifying collaboration with NGOs so that, aside from our community vaccination sites, we may also have vaccination sites among our private physicians,” said Vergeire.
“We also have continuous collaboration with large private sector groups, such as SM Malls, Jollibee, and McDonald’s,” she also said.
Vergeire said this is aside from their regular rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in different local government vaccination sites.
“At the very least, each local government employs different strategies on how they can further improve their coverage,” said the official.
Add to this, she said, will be the occasional special vaccination days, such as the one set from December 5 to 7.
“It’s a national activity concerning children 5 to 11 years old and those who need to receive their first booster shots,” said Vergeire.
Based on the latest data from the DOH, there are already a total of 73,707,875 fully vaccinated individuals in the country.
However, only 20,866,539 have been able to receive the 1st booster shots, as of November 20.
