IT was businessman Joey Concepcion who several weeks back started to call out the Department of Health (DOH) and the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) on the real possibility that millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines will expire soon and had to be disposed of as hospital waste.
Concepcion, a former presidential adviser on entrepreneurship and “Go Negosyo” founder, complained that there was a “lack of urgency” on the part of the DOH and HTAC, an independent advisory body for medical interventions and technologies, and this cost the private sector 4.25 million doses worth some P5 billion. These vaccines remained unused in the government’s mass vaccination program due to rigid health protocols, and the private firms holding them in some cold storage facilities will have the additional problem of where and how to dispose of them.
‘As a consolation… the DOH said it is open to giving some vaccine stocks from the national stockpile to the private sector, but they will have to pay for them and manage their administration to their employees.’
More than two months ago, the business groups had urged the DOH to include economic frontliners in the sectors eligible for second boosters, citing high acceptance rate among them, but the authorities dilly-dallied. Concepcion claimed the late decision to let more segments of the population get a second booster shot resulted in the huge losses.
It was only last Wednesday that the DOH expanded the coverage of second booster shots to include those in the 50 to 59 age bracket and adults with comorbidities.
Parrying these criticisms, Health Undersecretary and DOH spokesperson Beverly Ho maintained in a talk with the media that the DOH vaccination drive remained “safe and science-based.”
“We want to assure the public that there’s a process for making sure that the entire program uses vaccines that are safe. We abide by evidence when we expand indications or use of our vaccines,” Ho said. In so many words, the DOH official said their decisions are based on science, and nothing is more important than safety when it comes to people’s health.
Dr. Ho touted that with the “sound” DOH policies, “it got us to where we are now, which is 71 million Filipinos vaccinated (and we were) able to open the economy … because of this cooperation that we’ve had with each of the experts as well as the private sector supporting the government in the rollout.”
As a consolation for Concepcion and other critics and also recognizing the losses, the DOH said it is open to giving some vaccine stocks from the national stockpile to the private sector, but they will have to pay for them and manage their administration to their employees.
This might be a good compromise, if the second booster shots are really that indispensable, and additionally, if the private companies are willing to pay some more, after this costly lesson in procrastination.
