By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Negros Occidental’s provincial administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz II, confirmed that the province will return the 1,492 vials or 14,920 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to the Department of Health (DOH) that have already expired.

Dr. Claudelia Pabillo, officer-in-charge of the Provincial Storage Facility, said the expired vaccines were part of the 4,530 vials or 45,300 doses total deliveries received by the province on November 8.

The rest have been utilized.

Diaz said the city and municipal health offices were hesitant to accept the vials after they learned that its expiration was already near.

“We value the vaccines and we really wanted to use them but we value more the vaccinees. The potency of the vaccine decreases as the period of expiration nears. So we don’t roll it out because it may not meet up the expected potency of the vaccines. Both are important but we value more the safety of the vaccinees,” Diaz said.

Pabillo added that the expired vaccines are still at cold storage and will be returned to the DOH./DGB, WDJ