OPPOSITION Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Wednesday, August 3, 2022, that she sought for an inquiry into the billions worth of wasted coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccines that were procured by the National Government.Hontiveros said the probe aims to determine the possible lapses either in the administration planning or procurement.She said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the Department of Health (DOH), and the czars during the Duterte administration will be made to answer during the inquiry.Based on reports, from April to July, around four to 24 million unused and expired Covid-19 vaccines have expired. It costs around P5 billion to P13 billion.”Of course, may mga vaccines na alam nating hindi magagamit dahil sa iba’t ibang dahilan. May margin of error naman talaga. But in this case, goodbye agad sa halagang bilyun-bilyong piso? Mukhang magtatapon tayo ng pera at bakuna sa kabila ng mabilis na namang pagtaas ng mga Covid-19 cases,” she said.”Palaging inaanunsyo na ang dami-dami na nating bakuna, pero hindi naman sa procurement natatapos ang kwento. Baka naman may oversupply na tayo kaya may hindi nagagamit at nasasayang. ‘Wag naman sanang ipangalandakan na dinaig pa nila si Asyong Aksaya. Dapat may managot dito,” Hontiveros added.Earlier, Go Negosyo founder and former Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion blamed the Health Technology Assessment Council’s (HTAC) delay in the approval of administration of second booster doses for adult individuals with comorbidities and those aged 50 and above.Concepcion said around 4.2 million vaccines worth around P51.1 billion, which were procured by the private sector, have expired.DOH Infectious and Tropical Disease Section chief Dr. Anna Ong-Lim pointed to the gaps in the rollout of the primary vaccine series and first and booster doses.The HTAC cited the slow uptake for first booster doses in the expiration of the vaccines.”The HTAC has not delayed any rollout to date. In fact, it released its recommendation on first booster doses on 03 November 2021, followed by second boosters on 28 April 2022,” it said.”Unfortunately, there has been low uptake of first boosters,” it added.The DOH earlier said they are coordinating with the Covax facility to determine if the expired vaccines can still be replaced.As of July 31, a total of 71,700,612 individuals in the country were fully vaccinated, while 16,215,466 received booster doses. (SunStar Philippines)