DOH: Only 12,696 of 87 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines wasted

The Department of Health on Wednesday disclosed that 12,696 of the 87 million delivered COVID-19 vaccines in the country were wasted.

This was disclosed by Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, who also sits as the chairperson of the National COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Center, at a Senate budget briefing.

Cabotaje said the 12,686 wasted vaccines  were only 0.001% of the 87 million vaccines that have arrived in the country.

Of the said figure, 5,186 are AstraZeneca, 4,380 are Sinovac, 2,921 are Pfizer, 97 are Gamaleya, 87 Moderna, and 15 are Janssen.

Senator Risa Hontiveros pointed out that the total cost of wasted vaccines are around P6.9 million if multiplied to the average price of each vaccine at P544.

“This is our vaccine wastage from the beginning, a total of 12,686 doses wasted. These are mostly from temperature excursions,” Cabotaje said.

This means, some of the vaccines were stored in a facility that didn’t meet the required temperature.

“Mayroon din po tayong incidents na nasunog like the one in Cotabato, like the one in San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte. Nu’ng nasunog yung uuilding, nasunod din ang vaccine,” she said.

[We also have incidents where the vaccines were burned like the one in Cotabato and in San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte.]

“We have a few cases na nahulog, tapos ‘yung mga walang label. So if there is no label, they do not administer it. In a few cases, nagkaroon tayo ng particles,” she added.

[We have a few cases where the vaccines were dropped, the vials were not labeled. So if there is no label, we cannot administer it. In a few cases, the vaccines have particles.] -NB, GMA News