Tuguegarao City, Cagayan – The Department of Health has bared that 20.66 million doses of various COVID-19 vaccines have been wasted in the country, where 19 million were expired while others were damaged in operations.
The health department’s Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that as of August 12, around 8.42% of the country’s vaccine supply have been wasted.
The national government has clarified that out of the 20.66 million, 19 million doses have expired while 1.6 million doses have been damaged or wasted in operations.
Senators have also underscored that the recent wastage is close to double of the 4.7 percent reported expired doses back in June of this year.
The World Health Organization’s acceptable vaccine wastage threshold is set at 10%.
With the country’s wasted vaccine rates closing in to the WHO’s set limit, Senators including Senator Risa Hontiveros have expressed their intent to speed up the inoculation process.
According to the Senate, one dose of any COVID-19 vaccine amounts to P500, citing that over P10 billion worth of vaccines have already gone to waste.
With the hefty numbers of vaccine wastage, the National Task Force against COVID-19 and the national government said they will no longer procure doses for this year as they will focus on immunization programs. TNF