COVID vaccines spoiled because of brownout

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

167 doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines were spoiled because of the power interruption that hit the Rural Health Unit of the town of San Enrique, Iloilo last May 2021.

Mayor Trixie Fernandez said it was purely accidental as the power interruption was very quick. They did not bother to start up their backup generator to power the storage refrigerators for the vaccines.

The six refrigerators were supposed to automatically restart when electricity supply resumes but one unit that contained the 167 doses failed to restart for still unknown reasons.

It was too late when the person in charge of the refrigerators noticed that one of the units were not running.

Fernandez said they already reported the incident to the Provincial Health Office (PHO) and Department of Health (DOH) 6.

The spoiled vaccines were meant for the second jabs of some San Enrique residents.

Fernandez said they already notified Iloilo Electric Cooperative (Ileco) II of the power interruptions in their town. She also said that they plan to buy a new power generator for the vaccine refrigerators.

Ileco II General Manager Jose Redmond Roqiuos told Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo that the problem was not with their supply but the power line connecting the PNP station, Rural Health Unit and the town’s streetlights.

Roqiuos said the line constantly burns or flares up possibly due to overloading. The defective line has been repaired to avoid outages.

The Ileco II executive said they try to avoid power outages in areas where vaccines are stored or during vaccination activities.

The cooperative also informs local government units of scheduled brownouts so that they can prepare.