By Katrina Gracia Consebido
About P40 billion worth of COVID-19 vaccines in the country’s inventory will go to waste if not used before their expiration dates, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said.
In a Laging Handa briefing on Wednesday, April 20, Concepcion said among the vaccines that might be wasted were donated by the COVAX Facility worth around P30 million.
“I am told the cost of these vaccines amount to P40 billion. Siyempre, iba diyan dinonate ng COVAX, wala naman tayong bayad diyan. I think it’s about, if I’m not mistaken, about 30 million,” he said.
“Kami rin (private sector), ang mga vaccines namin na dinonate namin sa government, that’s about 2.5 million. That doesn’t cost the government anything but it costs us something,” he added.
Aside from funds lost, he said vaccine wastage will also affect future vaccine supply, noting that expired vaccines can no longer be used.
The official renewed his call to the public to take their boosters now that vaccines are available.
“I am concerned that by the time na siguro gusto na ng mga tao [na] kumuha ng bakuna, baka wala nang bakuna kasi halos expired. Iyong next administration will come in towards June eh they might be hesitant also to buy the vaccines kung mauulit ito,” he said.
‘We’re trying not only to save these vaccines from getting wasted but what’s more important is we’re trying to save iyong economy natin kasi gumana [ang economy] despite the Ukraine-Russia crisis,” he added.
He said the country’s reversion to Alert Levels 3 and 4 will again disrupt economic recovery which could pose further challenges for the country to pay its loans from banks and other nations.
As of April 18, there are 145,126,895 total COVID-19 vaccine doses administered nationwide, while 12,970,445 booster doses have been utilized. – ag