Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin, a former Department of Health (DOH) secretary, believes that Covid-19 vaccines wastage in the country is actually worse than what's being reported.
In an interview over CNN's The Source on Thursday, Dec. 1, Garin floated the possibility that the number of wasted vaccines is being "underdeclared".
“I believe the estimate that is being given is actually underdeclared. Remember many of the vaccines were multi-dose vials in other words the wastage is incorporated in there,” said Garin, who is a House deputy majority leader.
It was earlier reported that 31 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines under the Philippine government's inventory went to waste. The jabs, which were either procured by the national government or obtained via donations reportedly cost P15.6 billion.
Garin went on to explain her theory on the underdeclaration of wastage vaccines.
“A vial that’s good for 10 recipients is actually good for 12 recipients. You remember di ba may iba (for other vaccines), yung vial good for five (the vial is good for five) but then you can vaccinate six persons. That’s basically how multi-dose works so there’s a provision of wastage in there.”
According to the ex--DOH chief, the country has received around 250 million doses of Covid-19 jabs. Of this figure, only 165 million doses have been administered under the government's mass inoculation programs.
Applying simple math, there should be 85 million jabs left over, Garin said.
"If they are saying that there is 30 million left that the shelf life can be extended then you are left with 55 million doses that were wasted,” the congresswoman said.
Garin had earlier blamed the high rate of vaccine wastage to the Health Technology Assessment Council's (HTAC) current set-up with the DOH, describing the council as restrictive bureaucracy as far as the processes of the department is concerned.
She also said Thursday that the national government should immediately formulate the guidelines for the bivalent vaccines or second-generation Covid-19 vaccines that it intends to procure.
The guidelines for the second-generation vaccines should be clear on who will be allowed to avail of it, who will be allowed to administer it, and on whether or not the private sector will be allowed to procure the jabs for their employees.