MISINFORMATION about the effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) jabs proved to be a major obstacle that prevented the Department of Health (DOH) from attaining its target vaccination rates during the critical years in 2021 and 2022, slowed down booster uptakes, and caused millions of doses of vaccine shots to go to waste.
According to the 222-page performance audit report released on December 23, 2024 regarding the COVID-19 National Vaccination Program (CNVP), 68.67 million vaccine doses went to waste mostly due to expiration, representing more than 25 percent of the 251.77 million doses that comprised the government’s total vaccine supply.
“Vaccine hesitancy, fueled by fear, misinformation, and concerns about adverse effects, contributed to this low uptake,” the audit team said.
According to the report, the country achieved 45.37 percent vaccination rate of the eligible population in 2021 and 66.12 percent in 2022 – missing the target rate of 70 percent.
The last DOH National COVID-19 Case Bulletin dated August 14, 2023 showed the total number of fully vaccinated individuals, or those who received two shots of the vaccine, was at 78.44 million or 70.31 percent of the total population.
However, only 27.1 percent received one booster shot and 4.81 percent were given a second booster dose.
Regardless, the Commission on Audit (COA) said the DOH deserves to be commended for reaching vulnerable groups, including pregnant women and those who lived in geographically isolated locations and disadvantaged areas.
The COA report also showed that insufficient supply of vaccine, prioritization of vaccine distribution, and organizing vaccination sites were the foremost issues encountered in 2021, followed by lack of suitable storage, low immunization rate, and communication barriers in 2022.
While there was no way determine how many opted against getting vaccinated due to misinformation, auditors found that more than half of respondent households admitted to hearing discouraging information about the COVID-19 vaccines.
“A survey conducted by the audit team on household beneficiaries nationwide revealed that 280, or 64.97 percent out of 431 respondents, had seen or heard anything bad about COVID-19 vaccines,” auditors said.
The most common scare stories warned the public that the vaccines have caused deaths or triggered other illnesses.
Less frequent but still reaching a significant portion of the population were tales that the vaccines from pharmaceutical companies were themselves causing new COVID-19 infections, or that they were ineffective against the virus.
At the bottom of the list were 22 household respondents who said they were told that overtime, the vaccines can cause “zombification” among those who got injected.
The audit team recommended that the DOH step up the conduct of regular public health campaigns to address vaccine hesitancy.
Likewise, it said the government can use evidence-based communication strategies to dispel misinformation and build trust in the vaccination program.