Senate to probe vaccine wastage

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate is set to conduct an inquiry into disturbing reports of millions of unused and expired COVID-19 vaccine doses as the government tries to meet its vaccination targets with cases of the disease rising again due to the emergence of new variants.

No date has been set for the probe, which was prompted by a resolution filed by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who said “this large-scale wastage should never be tolerated.”

“Of course, there are vaccines that we know will not be used for various reasons because there’s really a margin of error. But in this case, is this really just goodbye to billions of pesos? It seems that we’re throwing away money and vaccines in the face of fast-rising COVID-19 cases,” Hontiveros told reporters in Filipino and English.

She shared reports of unused and expired COVID-19 shots worth billions of pesos, way beyond estimated figures of inevitable vaccine wastage.

From April to July, some four million to 27 million of unused and expired doses were bound to be thrown away, which is equivalent to a whopping P5 billion to P13 billion, according to news reports.

Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion earlier estimated the losses on expired vaccines procured by the private sector at P5.1 billion, which he described as a “preventable loss.”

Concepcion has been leading the private sector in appealing to the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) since April to allow second booster vaccinations.

“The lack of urgency on the part of the HTAC and the DOH (Department of Health) at which the vaccination advisories, policies and implementation progressed caused the bulk disposal of these hard-earned COVID-19 vaccines,” he said.

The resolution stated that it is imperative for government authorities to strive for less COVID-19 vaccine wastage, to accurately and transparently report vaccine wastage, identify drivers of wastage and implement effective interventions to reduce it.

“Where were the mistakes or gaps in the process? In the procurement? In the rollout? In the issuance of guidelines?” Hontiveros said.

The senator lamented that many sectors needing financial aid remain unassisted due to lack of funds, and yet, “those managing our vaccines are just going to throw money away.”

The DOH is targeting to administer COVID-19 booster shots to 11 million to 23 million fully vaccinated individuals within the first 100 days of the Marcos administration.

Meanwhile, Sen. Bong Go vowed to immediately conduct a hearing on the status of the government’s COVID-19 response, including the reported expiring vaccines.

Go, who chairs the Senate committee on health and demography, agreed that no vaccines should be wasted as people worked hard just to be able to buy and acquire COVID-19 vaccines.

“As the chair of the Senate committee on health and demography, once the resolution is referred to us, we will immediately conduct a hearing on the status of our COVID-19 response,” he said in a statement.

“We should all work together so that nothing will be wasted, and they will reach our qualified compatriots who have not been vaccinated in any corner of the Philippines,” he added. – Cecille Suerte Felipe