Jakarta (ANTARA) - Spokesperson of Health Ministry Siti Nadia Tarmizi said that the number of COVID-19 vaccines that expired at the end of February 2022 was less than one percent of the total stock.
“Initially, we predicted that 18 million doses could potentially expire. In fact, not all of them have expired. Actually, the number of expired doses is less than one percent of the total stock and still within the wastage rate limit," she informed here on Wednesday.
According to the ministry’s official website, the wastage rate includes the number of leftover, unused, damaged, and lost vaccines as well as the ones used as buffer stocks to overcome supply shortages and fulfill emergency needs.
The ministry spokesperson informed that Lampung was the area where vaccine stocks had partially expired with more than 170 thousand expired doses of AstraZeneca vaccines recorded in the province.
The expired vaccines were donated by a friendly country and had a short shelf life, she said.
She further said that no sanctions will be imposed on regions with expired vaccine stocks.
"It is because we cannot properly predict the implementation of the vaccination program. Sometimes, a lot of prospective vaccine recipients do not come to the vaccination site," she informed.
Still, the ministry has regularly reminded regional stakeholders to improve the governance of COVID-19 vaccine utilization, she stated.
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Hence, regional governments must check the expiration date of each COVID-19 vaccine received by them and manage vaccine utilization properly to prevent the expiry of vaccines before they can be administered, she added.
Furthermore, Tarmizi informed that the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) has extended the usage period for a number of COVID-19 vaccines.
"For instance, AstraZeneca’s distribution period has been prolonged," she said.
According to the ministry, currently, Indonesia has a total of 450 million COVID-19 vaccine doses. Out of the total number, 383 million doses are being distributed to a number of regions, it added.
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