No expired COVID-19 vaccines on hand, guv says

By John Noel E. Herrera

There are no expired coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID)-19 vaccines in Iloilo province as of now.

“Subong sa aton gina-uyatan, wala kita sang expired nga stocks (COVID-19 vaccines),” Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. said.

The governor clarified that all the vaccines purchased by the provincial government were distributed at the municipal level and were all administered to the residents.

“We only bought AstraZeneca during that time nga sa panan-aw naton ginaagawan pa bala ang vaccines and we were all (wanting) for vaccines and when AstraZeneca was available for us, nagbakal kita. It was good, naubus ta to ya, nausar ta to, and the rest halin na to ya sa gin bakal sang national government nga gin padala sa aton,” Defensor clarified.

Iloilo Provincial Health Office (PHO) chief Dr. Maria Socorro Colmenares-Quiñon said that the provincial government purchased a total of 270,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine amounting to around P68 million from 2021 to 2022.

Quiñon noted that all the said vaccines were distributed at the municipal level and the expired vaccines recorded in the past were either those given by other local government units like Iloilo City or the national government.

“That time nga damo (COVID-19 vaccines), gasaylo-saylo to siya and hesitant na gani kita magbaton, but ti gusto ta man sila buligan kay bakuna ina, that’s why may times nga malampas gid (expired) kung hindi mo maubos,” Defensor also explained.

He added that the provincial government no longer buys vaccines as there are already plenty of stocks with the national government.

“Basi sa ulihi mag-abot ang tyempo nga hindi magbakal ang national government kag kinahanglan, then mabakal kita, but sa subong wala, because damo pa siya,” he said.

Data from the PHO also indicated that 25,148 doses of vaccines are available in the province, which includes 24,308 doses of Sinovac vaccine, 540 doses of Pfizer-Orange Cap, and 300 doses of Pfizer-Purple Cap vaccine, as of March 16, 2023.

The provincial government also planned to include the COVID-19 vaccination in its regular vaccination program as the uptake of the vaccine is low.

“We will resume our COVID-19 vaccination like what we do with our other diseases. Ang himuon naton, ibutang na siya naton sa aton regular vaccination program, because we have vaccines,” Defensor said.

Recent data available indicated that there have been 1.29 million fully-vaccinated persons in Iloilo province, but only 273,472 have had their first booster shots and only 19,749 have had their second booster shots.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) reported that the number of wasted COVID-19 vaccine doses may reach over 50 million unless the government ramps up its rollout.

DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire noted that the country’s vaccine wastage at the moment is at 44 million doses, which could reach up to 50.74 million by the end of March, as there are 6.74 million doses expiring within the month.

“For the quantity expired for the national government procurement, we have 2.97 percent. For local government procurement, we have 33.4 percent. For private procurement, we have 44.8 percent and for COVAX procurement, we have 13.9 percent. And for the bilateral agreements and procurement or agreements donations, it will be 7.06 percent,” Vergeire explained.

Senator Francis Tolentino, in a blue ribbon committee hearing, also urged DOH to look for ways to properly dispose of the expired vaccines because of the potential risks to the health and safety of the public.