FILE PHOTO: Presidential adviser for entrepreneurship, Secretary Joey Concepcion. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Some P40 billion worth of COVID-19 vaccines may be wasted due to the low immunization turnout, presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said on Wednesday.
In a Laging Handa public briefing, Concepcion said that around 30 million anti-COVID shots may be wasted.
“Yes, I’m told the cost of all of these vaccines amounts to P40 billion. Syempre iba diyan dinonate ng Covax, so wala naman bayad tayo diyan. I think it’s about If I’m not mistaken, about 30 million [vaccines]. Kami rin, ang vaccines namin dinonate namin sa government. That’s about 2.5 million,” he said when asked if P40 billion worth of vaccines may be wasted due to the unwillingness of people to get vaccinated and boosted.
(Some of it was donated by Covax, so we did not pay for it… We also donated vaccines to the government. That’s about 2.5 million.)
“That doesn’t cost the government anything. But it cost us something. Aside from ‘yung pera na bilyon ang masasayang, syempre ‘yung mga vaccines na (billions of money wasted, the vaccines) that will be available at the time, mas kakaunti (will be lower). Syempre (Of course), you cannot use an expired vaccine,” he added.
According to Concepcion, getting vaccinated and boosted will help save the country’s economy as the risk of being infected becomes lower.
Based on the government’s data, 66.8 million individuals in the country are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of April 17. Of the figure, 12.6 million received their third dose or booster shot.