A House deputy minority leader on Tuesday slammed the Department of Health (DOH) for the reported billions of pesos worth of wasted Covid-19 vaccines.
House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro reported there are P15.6 billion worth of wasted Covid-19 vaccines amid lingering cases of Covid-19.
“The government should not take the over 31 million doses of wasted Covid-19 lightly. This wastage is worth an estimated cost of P15.6 billion of the people’s money,” Castro said.
“The 31 million doses are 12 percent of the 250.38 million doses received and procured by the government, vaccine wastage reported last August was only at 8 percent. Government should aim for as little wastage of Covid-19 vaccines as possible,” she added.
According to Castro, the World Health Organization has set a 10 percent threshold for vaccine wastage.
“[The Philippine] government must take this wastage issue seriously and ensure that services are accessible by the people,” Castro said.
“Vaccination and boosters are still incomplete in the provinces. The government should further strengthen its campaign for vaccination and ensure that citizens who want and can be vaccinated will have access to these vaccines,” added the lawmaker.
With this, Castro urged the leadership of the House of Representatives to act immediately on House Resolution 179 to probe the millions of expired Covid-19 vaccines.
“With this updated report, Congress should urgently conduct an investigation to ensure that this much wastage does not happen again,” Castro stressed.
Citing the unprogrammed appropriations of the 2022 General Appropriations Act, the resolution said the Congress has allotted P45.3 billion for the procurement of Covid-19 boosters shots.
“Especially amid the pandemic and economic crisis, where the Filipino people are suffering from the rising prices of goods and services, it is imperative for Congress to ensure that the people’s money is well spent and not wasted due to inefficiency and corruption,” said the resolution.
“It is unacceptable for the people that there are expired Covid-19 vaccines, whether donated or procured and whether they will be replaced for free or not, as they are actually the ones paying for the loans and other sources from which the vaccines were procured, and the ones on whose behalf the government received the donations,” the resolution added.
