According to reports, a total of 14,920 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines for COVID-19 expired in Negros Occidental on Tuesday, November 30.
As to why the vaccines went unused was not reported by the Philippine News Agency, although another news outlet claimed the vaccines were not used because some local government units in Negros Occidental preferred to use another brand of vaccine.
For lack of data, or because we don’t see the complete picture for now, we don’t want to point fingers at who should be blamed for this development.
But from what happened it is safe to conclude that this might have been an issue of mismanagement.
What could have been managed better? For one the distribution of the vaccines.
How is it that this much vaccines went unused in one part of the country when in others parts of the country people are desperate to get their hands on vaccines that aren’t available?
For another, keeping track of their expiry dates.
It could have been that the vaccines were only given to the LGUs close to their expiry date, forcing the LGUs not to use them for fear of ill effects they might cause. Or it could have been that the vaccines’ expiry dates were simply forgotten.
It could also be that the LGUs were expecting many people to get the jabs, but vaccine hesitancy got the most of them instead.
There may have been other factors involved as to why those vaccines were not used, but either way it means that precious vaccines against COVID-19 went to waste.
The wasted vaccines don’t just mean that 7,000 people could have gotten their first and second jabs, it also means the money used to buy them was spent for nothing. If these were donated that also means the donation was for nothing and we better pray the donors don’t get wind of this or they may not be so generous next time.
We don’t even have to mention the wasted resources that went into making those vaccines.
Because this may not be the last pandemic we will see, authorities should do their best to make sure such a precious commodity doesn’t go to waste.