Expired COVID-19 vaccines to cost private sector P5.1 billion

Around 3.6 million coronavirus vaccine doses procured by the private sector have expired on Wednesday, according to Go Negosyo founder and former Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion.

At the public briefing, Concepcion said the 3.6 million doses of Moderna vaccines have expired on July 27 while 623,000 AstraZeneca doses are set to expire on Sunday, July 31. This accounts for a total of 4.2 million vaccines, which he said are worth around P5.1 billion.

“Dati 1.5 million vaccines lang tatamaan pero ngayon binilang namin a total of 4.2 million vaccines will expire from the private sector’s side,” he said.

(Initially, only 1.5 million vaccines would be affected but after counting them, we found out the total was 4.2 million.)

Concepcion said the inability of the private sector to administer the doses on time was due to the delay in the Health Technology Assessment Council's (HTAC) approval of the second booster vaccination for Filipinos aged 50 years and older, and for adults with comorbidities.

"Dahil sa delay ng approval ng HTAC, we will be greatly affected, about  P5.1 billion pesos or about a 100 billion US dollars, so sayang ang pera natin," he said.

“The lack of urgency on the part of the HTAC and the DOH at which the vaccination advisories, policies, and implementation progressed caused the bulk disposal of these hard-earned Covid-19 vaccines,” Concepcion said in a separate statement.

He also recalled asking the government to allow the private sector to administer second booster doses to save the expiring vaccines.

“We first sounded the alarm about low booster uptake in March, and about the expiring vaccines in early April. This could have easily been prevented had the HTAC simply listened and learned from the guidance of the CDC back in March when it recommended additional boosters for those as young as 50 years old,” he said.

“The expiry dates of these vaccines have already been extended and there is nothing more that can be done but to accept this preventable loss,” he added.

The Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the administration of the second booster dose for all individuals aged 50 and above, and 18 to 49 years old with comorbidities.

Prior to that, the second booster dose has been made available to the frontline healthcare workers, senior citizens, and immunocompromised individuals.

The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday released the guidelines for the booster program for the said age groups, but Concepcion said it might be too late considering some vaccines have already expired.

“Moving forward we should really insist that DOH should plan out itong mga challenging situation katulad nito,” he said.

(Moving forward we should really insist that DOH should plan out for these challenging situations.)

Concepcion expressed hope to see “positive developments” in the vaccination program under the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

Gaps

DOH Infectious and Tropical Disease Section chief Dr. Anna Ong-Lim, however, refuted on Thursday that the vaccines expired because the second booster rollout was just recently approved.

She said the issue stemmed from the “gaps” in the rollout of the primary vaccine series and first and booster doses, and these should be the issues that need to be addressed instead.

“I would beg to disagree kasi these are the same vaccines that were available for the first booster and even the primary series. Hindi dahil sa ngayon lang in-approve ang second booster kaya nagkaroon tayo ng expired doses, kundi nagkaroon tayo ng gaps doon sa pagro-rollout or pagtanggap ng mga tao for their first dose, their primary series, their first booster, and of course the second booster,” Ong-Lim said in a press briefing.

(The vaccines expired not because the second booster were just recently approved, but because there were gaps in the rollout of the primary series and fist and second booster shots.)

“I think it’s not very productive to focus on that. I think it’s more productive to identify the gaps that led to why this happened and those are the problems that need to be resolved,” she added. 

COVAX

DOH alternate spokesperson Undersecretary Beverly Ho also said that the agency is now coordinating with the COVAX facility to determine if these expiring vaccine doses from the private sector could also be replaced.

“We recognize that there have been stocks that have expired and efforts are ongoing now to work with our COVAX facility because they will be able to exchange the expiring vaccines of the national government and so inquiries are being worked out if they could do the same with the private sector vaccines,” she said.

She said that the national stockpile of vaccines are still available and could be given to the private sector for free to ramp up their booster coverage.

Instead of pointing blame, Ho said concerned sectors must instead work to support the government’s PinasLakas campaign that aims to administer booster shots to 50% of the country's eligible population or 23.8 million Filipinos within the next three months.

“Ang dami pang pwedeng bakunahan. It’s not just about this policy that recently came out, but we can actually optimize the stocks to cover initially those for first booster. Ngayon, ang importante, we all have to work together. Less sisihan, but actually working towards making sure to reach the PinasLakas targets,” she added.

Based on DOH’s latest data, 16 million Filipinos have received their booster shots, while 71.6 million are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 

The Health department also encouraged the private sector to continue coordinating with the DOH Centers for Health Development (CHDs) and local government units for their COVID-19 vaccination strategies and plans to utilize vaccine supplies.

“The department will continue coordinating the process of reverse logistics in all levels of governance to ensure proper accounting of the vaccines,” the DOH said in a statement on Friday.

“In the spirit of unity, we look forward to stronger partnership with the private sector in attaining our goals for a stronger wall of immunity,” it added. — with Richa Noriega/LDF/KBK/VBL, GMA News