In the Senate deliberations on the 2024 Department of Health budget on November 14, 2023, it was disclosed that a comprehensive review on the government’s COVID-19 response had been conducted, and the final report had been submitted to the Office of the Executive Secretary.
The report has not yet been made available to the public. Senator Pimentel sought access to the report, particularly details on vaccine procurement and wastage.
Senator Pia Cayetano, the sponsor of the DOH budget in the Senate, disclosed a rather staggering statistic—49.73 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were wasted, with 38.54 million expiring or surpassing their shelf life. This revelation underscores a significant financial loss, especially considering that out of these, 23.7 million doses were procured by the Philippine government, costing an estimated P500 per dose. Senator Pimentel calculated the potential wastage to be between P11 billion to P12 billion.
The COVID-19 vaccines will no longer be included in the national budget for 2024. Despite this, a glimmer of hope still emerges with a donation offer from the COVAXX facility—500,000 doses of the Bivalent vaccine. Senator Cayetano assured that the Philippines would accept this generous offer. If and when this rollout occurs, I will be among the first to eagerly line up, because I believe that the COVID-19 vaccines had saved mankind from the pandemic.
The budget discussions also shed light on the appeal from a substantial number of pulmonologists to expedite the registration of the COVID-19 drug Remdesivir. Senator Cayetano pledged to appeal to the Food and Drug Administration for a swift registration process. She expressed worries about the dwindling supply of the medication, saying that despite the declaration that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, there are still cases where such medicines are crucial for immunocompromised individuals.
