THE Department of Health (DOH) yesterday said it is ready to explain the wastage of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines as well as the messy distribution of medical supplies and equipment after they were flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) in its 2021 audit report.
“We received the report last July 29. We are verifying and evaluating this so that we can provide appropriate response. We are given 60 days for that. We are now preparing our explanation,” said DOH Undersecretary and officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire.
She said the DOH intends to give an extensive response by providing actual details on the issues raised by COA.
“We went down to the local governments, our regional offices so that we can see the real numbers. We are doing wall-to-wall inventories on this,” she said.
As to expired vaccines, Vergeire said 32,724 vaccine doses that have expired can no longer be replaced by the COVAX Facility.
“We tried this extension of shelf life for all of these vaccines that have expired. Unfortunately, it is impossible because they have expired already,” she explained.
On 2,854 vials that are nearing expiry. Vergeire said, “All of these expiring vaccines would be replaced by COVAX Facility, replaced at no cost.”
In its 2021 audit report on the DOH, the COA noted that medical supplies and equipment worth P166.21 million that went to offices and persons they were not intended for.
In the same report, COA said that another batch of procurement totaling P18.56 million simply disappeared or their whereabouts unknown.
COA also noted lapses in the distribution and utilization of COVID-19 vaccines that resulted in wastage, and near expiration of thousands of doses.
Vergeire on Tuesday requested COA “to try to avoid making announcements to the public until you have talked to the concerned agency. This is to avoid perception to the people that there are issues not explained by the DOH.”