Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 2) — Vaccine wastage has more than doubled since the last report, nearly half due to expiration, according to the Department of Health (DOH) on Friday.
“Nung isang linggo nagre-report tayo ng total of 31 million wastage for our vaccines. Now, it is already at 44 million based on our inventories. Out of the 44 million wasted vaccines, 24 million po dyan ay base sa expired or beyond shelf life,” DOH officer-in-charge Rosario Singh-Vergeire said.
[Translation: The other week, we reported that about 31 million vaccines had gone to waste. Now, it is already at 44 million based on our inventories. Out of the 44 million wasted vaccines, 24 million expired or went beyond their shelf life.]
“Operationally, meron tayong 3.8 million were lost due to operational wastage; this may be caused by natural disaster, temperature excursion, and discoloration,” she added.
[Translation: We lost 3.8 million as a result of operational wastage; this may be caused…]
“Meron po kaming porsyento, mga 5% out of the 44 million. Ito po ay inaalam pa natin kung ano ang nangyari sa mga bakuna na ito, but the numbers are with us already,” Vergeire ended.
[Translation: A small percent, 5% of the 44 million wasted vaccines, we are trying to learn what happened to these vaccines, but we already have the numbers.]
In their previous report on Nov. 17, the DOH said 31 million vaccines worth ₱15.6 billion had gone to waste.
Vergeire said about 75% of all vaccine wastage came from procurements made by the private sector and local government units.
READ: Over 31 million COVID-19 vaccine doses wasted — DOH
READ: DOH: ₱1.1 billion worth of gov’t-procured COVID-19 vaccines expired
“Gusto lang natin ipaalam sa ating kababayan na this 44 million is 17.5% out of all those vaccines we have received for the country,” she said.
[Translation: We just want to let our citizens know that this 44 million is 17.5% out of all those vaccines we have received for the country.]
Latest figures from the DOH show that about 165,785,356 vaccine doses have been deployed.
A total of 73,759,591 have received their full dose of Covid-19 vaccine; 73,759,591 have been administered at least their first dose; while 20,972,670 booster doses have been deployed.
