32 coronavirus vaccine doses for Central Visayas wasted

CEBU CITY—At least 32 coronavirus vaccine doses allotted for Central Visayas had gone to waste.

Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, spokesperson and chief pathologist of the Department of Health in the region, said the wasted doses included eight Coronavac, the vaccine manufactured by Chinese company Sinovac, and 24 AstraZeneca.

The AstraZeneca doses were spoiled because the vials had been opened but their supposed recipients did not show up.

The Coronavac doses, according to Loreche, were wasted because of manufacturing issues as eight vials did not contain the right volume. Each vial was supposed to contain 0.5 milliliters or one dose.

“It is not in accordance with the volume as directed for vaccination to be effective,” Loreche said.

The 32 wasted vaccines would be returned to the DOH central office in Manila.

While only 32 out of the 134,160 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in Central Visayas were wasted, Loreche said health officials would make sure that no more vaccines would go to waste.

“We are looking forward to minimizing wastage. We are very much careful in handling the vaccines,” she said.

Loreche said she hoped that all those who expressed intent to be injected would push through with their scheduled injections.

She cited as example the case of at least 10 people who had registered for vaccination but did not show up on their scheduled injection.

Health workers looked for others, who qualified for the vaccines, but no one volunteered.

“So the doses were not used and were instead declared as ‘wastage,’”Loreche said.

In her report, Loreche said at least 11,387 health care workers in Central Visayas have already received their first and second doses.

At least 72,098 health workers had already received first doses.

The region has at least 131,781 health workers who qualified as vaccine recipients on the government’s priority list.

TSB