MANILA (UPDATE) — Bulk of the 44 million wasted COVID vaccines came from local government units and the private sector, Department of Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said Wednesday.

Vergeire reported this before the Senate blue ribbon committee, which conducted its "motu propio" investigation on the non-disclosure agreement inked by DOH with vaccine manufacturers.

According to Vergeire, some 44 million wasted vaccines make up 44.82 percent (19.8 million) purchased by the private sector.

Some 33.35 percent or roughly 14.5 million from LGUs and only 2.02 percent or around 2.9 million came from the national government.

Furthermore, the DOH revealed that 10.95 percent of the country’s total accumulated expired vaccines was donated through the COVAX facility.

It has secured the commitment of the COVAX facility to replace expired doses with bivalent vaccines, which better contribute to vaccination efforts.

“If we look at our current inventories, the national government procurement only 2.97 percent out of the total number that we have procured, which is around 134M doses that we have procured, only around 2.9M have expired from these national government procured vaccines,” Vergeire said.

Vergeire estimated the amount of government’s wasted vaccines at P1.99-B on the assumption of a P500 per vaccine price.

Vaccine demands these days have declined “tremendously,” or from 3-4 million vaccine requirements per day at the height of the pandemic in 2021, to an average of 18,000 to 20,000 vaccinations per day starting January this year, Vergeire said.

JUSTIFIED

Former Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez also defended the volume of government’s wasted vaccine, which the DOH have earlier said, were left unused due to the short shelf life and operational wastage such as temperature excursion or natural disasters.

Dominguez said the government was able to corner 251 million doses of vaccine wherein 92.83 million came as donations.

The national government, he said, bought 134.13 million, while LGUs and the private sector, with 24.42 million doses.

Dominguez then reminded the panel that what’s happening at the height of the pandemic was a “seller’s market” and not a “buyer’s market.”

“Losses happen in every business, in every activity. 2% I think, is not alarming… we have to remember we funded these with borrowings total dispersed amount $1.18B or P55B. We lost 2 perecnt of that. It’s high, it should not happen, but in reality it happens… is 2% high or is 2% low, or is it acceptable? In my experience in the private sector, 2% is not bad,” Dominguez said.

Vergeire meanwhile assured the committee that the DOH continues its consultation with experts if it can soon open the second booster vaccination program to the general population.

The government is now also working out a possible procurement of bivalent vaccine in the coming months, she said.

“We’re in the process of negotiating for this.. We are still waiting for the EUA (Emergency Use Authorization)… ,” Vergeire said.

After the hearing, Tolentino ruled that the issue of wasted vaccines was already properly explained and justified.

The Senate blue ribbon committee will hold an executive session about the NDA entered into by the DOH with vaccine manufacturers, before finally coming out with a committee report, Tolentino said.

ASTRAZENECA, PFIZER

In a statement, the health agency vowed to uphold accountability and transparency in the country’s COVID-19 vaccine procurements.

The DOH also clarified it has always been willing to provide the needed information on vaccine procurement, in response to issues surrounding its alleged refusal to provide the said information to Congress and the Commission on Audit due to the NDAs.

The DOH reiterated it has been proactive in requesting for the conduct of a special audit for the COVID-19 vaccine procurements.

Despite the NDAs posing a potential hurdle to full disclosure, the DOH clarified that the DOH and NTF would comply with all COA audit requirements.

The agency explained that disclosing information covered by the confidentiality agreements without explicit consent from the manufacturers has legal as well as public health repercussions.

Such disclosure may result in manufacturers’ loss of confidence, which may, in turn, harm the country’s future prospects to be prioritized or even to secure life-saving vaccines and other products for Filipinos.

As early as 2021, the DOH said it has coordinated with vaccine manufacturers to secure their consent to disclose information and enable procurement audits free from legal liability. Of the manufacturers engaged by the country, AstraZeneca and Pfizer have given their consent for DOH to disclose information under specific terms.