Some 3.6 million expired Covid-19 vaccine doses will be replaced by the COVAX facility without additional cost, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said.
Duque explained during President Rodrigo Duterte’s taped Talk to the People that the DOH requested COVAX representatives to replace both the donated soon-to-expire vaccines and the procured ones.
“‘Yung COVAX, meron po silang stockpile ng mga bakuna with longer shelf life. So ang gagawin, ‘yung mga nag-expire na sa atin, umabot na ng mga about 3.6 million doses, which is just about 1.46% of our total inventory ng bakuna. So, yes sir, papalitan po ‘yan. Ire-replace ng COVAX facility,” Duque told Duterte.
The said 1.46% vaccine wastage is lower compared to World Health Organization’s (WHO) 10% indicative wastage rate.
COVAX is a global vaccine-sharing program that started in 2020 as a way to distribute Covid-19 vaccines to poorer countries. Ronald Espartinez