31.3 M Covid vaccine doses gone to waste

The number of expired Covid-19 vaccine doses have reached 31.3 million, which amounts to over P15.6 billion as of November, Sen. Pia Cayetano said on 17 November.

However, Cayetano, who defended the Health Department's proposed P210.5 billion budget for 2023, clarified the wasted vaccines, equivalent to 12 percent of the total received doses, are still within limits.

"But of course, this does not mean that just because it is within the allowed percentage, the DoH is not striving to improve that number," she said.

Cayetano made the disclosure after Sen. Risa Hontiveros inquired about it.

To recall, Hontiveros previously filed a resolution seeking to investigate reports of unused and expired Covid-19 vaccines amounting to P5 billion to P13 billion.

Citing reports from the DoH, Cayetano attributed the expired doses to the short life span of Covid-19 vaccines from the World Health Organization COVAX facility.

She added that some of the vaccines considered wasted came from provinces hit by past typhoons and other natural calamities, temperature excursions, discoloration, and the presence of particulate matter.

As of November, the country has received a total of 250.38 million doses of various Covid-19 vaccines, of which 171.20 million doses have been administered.