Vergeire

Over 12K COVID vax doses discarded — DOH

October 18, 2021 Lee Ann P. Ducusin 368 views

THE Department of Health (DOH) Monday disclosed that a total of 12,970 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been discarded due to issues with temperature, transportation, and labelling.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that temperature instability was the cause for most of the vaccines that were discarded.

“Most of the reasons ay itong temperature excursions, no? Mayroong nagkaroon ng sunog sa Cotabato at saka doon sa Ilocos Norte dati kung saan ang ilang bakuna natin ay nadamay. Meron tayong nabalitaan noon na mayroong nagkaroon ng wastage dahil doon transport. Nagkaroon ng doon sa banka na sinasakyan nila, may issue tayo doon na parang nalubog ‘yung mga vaccine,” she said.

Vergeire said vaccines that were not labeled or those whose labels have been damaged were also discarded.

“Yung iba naman may reports may mga particulate matters doon sa bakuna… kapag ganoon ang itsura ng bakuna, hindi na natin ‘yan ginagamit. So dinidiscard,” she said.

The latest data from the National Task Force Against COVID-19 showed that the Philippines has received 90.61 million doses since February. Of this, 51.48 million have been administered.

Meanwhile, a total of 23.98 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

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