Ex-Health chief says 55M, not 31M doses wasted
ILOILO Rep. Janet Garin yesterday expressed belief government’s estimate of 31 million wasted COVID-19 vaccines is lower than actual wastage, noting that based on the data she gathered, as many as 55 million doses have been wasted.
Garin, an administration lawmaker who served as health secretary under the Aquino administration, said vaccine wastage should not happen again, especially as the government is eyeing the procurement of bivalent vaccines to protect the public from new, highly-transmissible COVID variants.
“It’s not acceptable and I believe the estimate that’s been given is actually underdeclared,” she told CNN Philippines.
Garin said the 55 million figure she gathered is on top of the 31 million doses that the have been requested for shelf life extension but are also expected to go to waste.
There was no statement from the Department of Health (DOH) on Garin’s statements.
Last week, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said wastage is being experienced also by other countries, and the 31.3 million wasted doses is within the acceptable level set by the World Health Organization (WHO) of 25 to 30 percent. The 31.3 million wastage is equivalent to 12.5 percent of the country’s total 250.38 million doses.
Sen. Pia Cayetano has said about 31.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were either wasted or not used in the country. The wastage is worth P15.6 billion and of this total number, the DOH has said 24 million are expired or are about to expire and seven million were wasted.
Among the reasons cited for the wastage of vaccines are expiration, short shelf life, damage due to natural disaster as well as damage due to temperature, discoloration, and having particulate or floating matters.
The DOH, on bivalent vaccines, earlier said the government is in talks with manufacturers Moderna and Pfizer for the supply of the shots, as the government waits for authorization and approval from health experts to proceed with the procurement.
Garin said vaccine wastage would be prevented if the government takes advantage of the people’s desire to be vaccinated and it was at the height of the pandemic when mortality and positivity rates were high.
“And that window should not be missed. We should not be imprisoned in academic debates. We also have to look at the bigger picture of the implementation of the program,” Garin said.
She also urged the DOH to immediately formulate guidelines on who will be allowed to get bivalent shots, who will administer it, and decide if the private sector will be allowed to procure the bivalent vaccines for their employees.
Garin earlier blamed the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) for the wastage of the 31 million doses, saying the body took too long to decide on allowing the use of COVID-19 jabs as first and second booster shots.
She lamented that the HTAC allowed the administration of second booster shots to more people only when the vaccines were already expiring, making people think twice about receiving it.
