Senator Risa Hontiveros, one of the two-member minority bloc, filed a resolution on Wednesday seeking to investigate reports of unused and expired Covid-19 vaccines amounting to P5 billion to P13 billion
Citing various reports, Hontiveros said that between April to July, it is possible that there were between 4 to 27 million of unused and expired Covid-19 vaccine doses bound to be thrown away, which is equivalent to a whopping P5 to P13 billion.
“Of course, there are vaccines that we know we can no longer use due to various reasons. There is really a margin of error. But in this case, we bid goodbye to billions of money?” she said.
“It looks like we are wasting our money on these vaccines while Covid-19 cases continue to increase,” she added.
Horrendous waste
The resolution stated that it is imperative for the government authorities to strive for less Covid-19 vaccine wastage, to accurately and transparently report vaccine wastage, identify drivers of wastage, and implement effective interventions to reduce it.
“What we would like to know in the resolution: Where did they go wrong or what is lacking in the process? Is it in the rollout? In the release of guidelines? The bottomline is the funds and supplies became a wastage, whether who owned it,” she said.
Hontiveros expressed her dismay over the alleged wastage of public funds, which she said could have been used as financial aid for those heavily-affected by the pandemic.
“There are many sectors that are tirelessly asking for support from the government yet those who manage our vaccines are wasting our funds,” she said.
“Had we known this would happen, we should have provided the funds to the sectors that were heavily-affected by the pandemic like farmers, fishermen, drivers, and frontliners,” she added.