The Department of Health (DOH) was asked to find a way on how to properly dispose the reported millions of expired doses of procured and donated Covid-19 vaccines in the country because of its potential risk to public health and safety.

“Any discussions on this? What do we do with these? What do we do with these because environmentally, these might not be safe... how do you dispose? Susunugin (burn?), ibabaon sa lupa (bury it?) itatapon sa (throw it to the) Pacific Ocean? Papano? (How?)” Senator Francis Tolentino, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, asked DOH officials present during Tuesday’s (Feb. 21) Senate inquiry over the non-disclosure provision as stated in the vaccine procurement contracts by the government.

Tolentino raised concern over the potential “deleterious effects” of not properly disposing the unused but expired COVID vaccines, considering that some types of vaccines were either “protein-based” or contains inactivated virus.

Based on the health department’s inventory last December, there were about 44 million doses that had been wasted, including the 24.6-million doses that had gone unused past their shelf life and the 6.7 million that were discarded due to “operational” lapses in their storage or handling according to DOH officer-in-charge Usec. Ma. Rosario Vergeire.

“Anong gagawin natin dito sa 44 million? (What shall we do with the 44 million?) Gagawin ba natin itong pataba? (Shall we use as fertiliser?) Gagawin natin itong aspalto? (We turn it into asphalt?) Saan natin gagamitin ito (where shall we use it) environmentally? Is this considered as hazardous waste? Where do we dump this including the vials? Where do we throw this away? Ibabaon natin sa lupa (shall we bury them?) anong gagawin natin dito? (what shall we do with them?) Any recommendation from the DOH? I-cremate ba natin ito, anong gagawin natin? (Shall we cremate them?). Baka makadagdag pa ito sa climate change kung itapon lang natin (will it not add to climate change if we just throw them),” Tolentino added,

Former National Task Force (NTF) deputy chief implementer and Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) chairman Vince Dizon told the Tolentino committee that a facility inside the New Clark City in Tarlac Province would be the site where the unused-expired vaccines would be disposed.

But the senator has expressed doubts and hesitation over the supposed location of the disposal site, considering that the facility is just few kilometers away from the “Athlete’s Village” where several members of the Philippine national team are currently having their respective training for upcoming local and international sports tournaments.

Meanwhile, Tolentino asked the Office of the Solicitor General if they could see a little window on how the national government could “legally” exchange the accumulated COVID-19 vaccines about to expire to another form of vaccine or medicine coming from the same pharmaceutical companies which could be utilized locally.