MANILA, Philippines – Some 31.3 million individuals could have rolled up their sleeves and been inoculated from COVID-19, but instead these vaccines were wasted as reported by the Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday, November 17.

This was bared during the Senate deliberations on the proposed budget of the DOH, when Senator Risa Hontiveros asked Senator Pia Cayetano about the updated data on wasted vaccines. Cayetano sponsored the DOH budget in the Senate plenary.

The current vaccine wastage now stands at 12% of the total 250.8 million doses received by the Philippine government. It was almost 11 million higher than the reported wasted vaccines in August, which was at 20.7 million doses or 10% of the total vaccine stockpile.

“Nakakalungkot lang na sa tatlong buwang pagitang yon, tumaas pa sa 12 percent kahit pasok pa rin sa 25% ceiling ng WHO. Nadagdagan pa ng 11 milyong doses na nasayang pa three months later,” Hontiveros said.

(It’s sad that after of three months, it went up to even though it’s still within the 25% ceiling of the WHO [World Health Organization]. Another 11 million doses were wasted three months later.)

The estimated cost of the vaccines lost was at P15.6 billion if the price of each dose is pegged at P500.

Cayetano, however, pointed out that vaccine wastage did not actually increase because it was only recently that DOH was able to get the full picture of the doses that had gone to waste.

“They did a complete inventory and they found out that there were still vaccines in warehouses. What happened was we now have a more accurate inventory,” Cayetano said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Cayetano said that “one of the reasons for the expiration was because some of the COVAX funded vaccines we received have really short lifespan.”

COVAX, formally known as The COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, is a global collaboration for speeding up the development, manufacture, and equitable distribution of new vaccines. Countries that signed get access to a broad portfolio of new vaccine candidates to combat COVID-19.

Apart from short shelf life, DOH cited natural disaster, temperature excursion, and underdosing as reasons for vaccine spoilage.

Meanwhile, Hontiveros stressed the need for the government to properly manage vaccine supplies.

“Alam naman natin lalo na ngayon na limitado ang pondo, masikip yung tinatawag nilang fiscal space, umaahon pa rin tayo sa pandemic at recession. Every single peso, every single percentage point is precious,” the opposition senator said.

(We all know that we have limited budget, we have tight fiscal space, we’re still recovering from the pandemic and recession. Every single peso, every single percentage is precious.)

– Rappler.com