Philippines' COVID-19 Vaccine Wastage To Hit 50 Million By End Of March

The Philippines is on course to waste 50 million doses of anti-COVID-19 vaccines by March.

During a hearing of the Philippine Senate's Blue Ribbon Committee, the Health Department's Officer-in-Charge and Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the country has so far wasted 44 million unused doses of coronavirus vaccines.

"As of our current inventories, our wastage is 17.5 percent, the quantities would be 44 million doses plus," Vergeire said, Philippine news outlet ABS-CBN News reported.

Vergeire also confirmed a computation by Philippine Sen. Francis Tolentino that another 6 million doses of COVID vaccines are expiring this month, putting the total number of wasted doses at 50.74 million.

"I confirm that these would be the amount if we already include those to expire by end of March," Vergeire said.

The Philippines' top health official also revealed that about 6.9 million doses were already expired and are currently "quarantined" while awaiting the manufacturers' and the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) response if the vaccines could still be used beyond their shelf life.

Tolentino, the Senate committee chairperson, assailed Filipino health officials for not doing enough to inform the public about the importance of getting a coronavirus vaccine amid the hesitancy among Filipinos that created vaccine wastage.

"Can you attribute that to the decline now in [the] number of vaccinations being done as well as the perceived vaccination hesitancy among the populace?" Tolentino said.

"The people do not like it anymore since it looks like there is no sense of urgency. You are no longer visible," the Filipino senator added.

Tolentino suggested a bond should be included in COVID-19 vaccine contracts to cover the cost of disposing of expired doses.

The Filipino senator also recommended returning or donating unused vaccines to other countries.

Data from the Philippine health department showed that as of March 8, more than 166 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were already administered since the vaccination program began in early 2021.

So far, 73,900,423 Filipinos have completed the required two doses of the vaccines, while 71,066,466 had their first doses and 21,613,978 have already received their booster dose.

However, the Philippines' average daily vaccine doses in the last 7 days stood at 8,330.

The country's capital region had the highest number of coronavirus vaccine doses administered, followed by Region 4-A (Calabarzon) and Region 3 (Central Luzon).

Meanwhile, Region 4B (Mimaropa) had the lowest total doses administered in the Philippines.

Three years since the Philippines declared a state of public health emergency due to COVID-19, the number of Filipinos infected with the disease is now at 4,077,452.

The country's total active coronavirus cases as of March 9 is 9,017, while 66,188 Filipinos have died from the disease.