COVID-19: More than 430 thousand pediatric Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines have expired or are about to expire | EC Data Report | Minsa | Dining | ECData | PERU

In mid-March, the Comptroller General of the Republic issued two reports warning that more than two million doses of the vaccine from AstraZeneca would expire on March 31. The largest batch, valued at S/ 57 million, was in the warehouse of the National Center for the Supply of Strategic Health Resources (Cenares). He then Health MinisterHernán Condori, rejected that the vaccines were going to expire.

However, this situation has not been resolved and, on the contrary, more reports of vaccines at risk of defeat. The Data Journalism Unit of El Comercio reviewed the reports published by the comptroller’s office and found that, between April 1 and 22, eight new documents were published in which it is noted that around 430,234 doses of AstraZeneca y Pfizer -the latter, pediatric- they won or would be about to win.

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Reports also confirmed that 44,637 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine were lost in the Regional Health Directorates and health centers in Junín, Puno, Callao, East Lima and Tumbes. 53% correspond to the Regional Health Directorate (Diresa) of Callao.

On the other hand, more than 288 thousand dose would have expired between the end of February and the end of March. 69% of these vaccines They were also in the warehouses of the Diresa Callao and in 16 of its health centers. For its part, 44,079 doses would expire on April 30.

With the total of lost doses, it would have been possible to vaccinate all persons over 18 years of age who still require a third dose in the Constitutional Province of Callao.

Pediatric vaccines at risk

The comptroller’s reports also detail that they are no longer just AstraZeneca vaccines those that are at risk. 52,844 pediatric vaccines from the Pfizer laboratory would also be in danger of expiring without being used.

These are stored in the Callao and Puno health networksin the health addresses of Loreto and Huánuco and in four health centers in the latter region: Peru – Corea, Amarillis, Las Moras and Potracancha. The supervisions carried out between April 6 and 19 by the control bodies show that these vaccines, applied only to children, will expire on April 30.

“Vaccines cannot be lost. It must be considered that 55.6% of children between 5 and 11 years of age still need to be vaccinated with the second dose”says Dr. Eden Galán-Rodas, former director of the Medical College. To date, more than 2.6 million children (63.7%) have received the first dose, and 1.8 million (44.4%) the second.

Four months into the vaccination of this age group, more than 2.3 million children still do not have their two doses. Huanuco, Loreto and Puno These are the regions that have not yet reached 35% of inoculation of children with two doses. Puno is the second region with fewer children with two vaccines against him COVID-19: barely registers 17.9% with said number of vaccines.

Delays on the route

When a vaccine arrives in the country, it is immediately transferred to the warehouse of the National Center for the Supply of Strategic Health Resources (Cenares). In this place, it remains between three and four days before distributing them. “There is a batch registration process. It is a tedious procedure that must be carried out”, says Dr. Galán-Rodas. During these days, Cenares verifies that the Diresa, the Diris and the health centers have a cold chain in optimal conditions.

After that, Cenares sends the vaccines to the Diresas and Diris, from where they are distributed to the health centers, after batch registration. This process also takes between three and four days. “In theory, the process should take less time, since it is assumed that Cenares previously placed the details of the lots”points out Galán-Rodas.

Finally, the batches are distributed to the different health and vaccination centers. That is to say, the time since they enter until they are distributed to the vaccination centers should not exceed 8 days. However, according to reports from the Comptroller’s Office, these can remain in the warehouses, both in Cenares and in the health addresses and networks, for up to a little over a month.

“It is a problem of logistics and neglect”, assures Galán-Rodas. As he explains, there are delays when verifying whether health facilities have adequate cold chains, since many of these places still lack them. Also, there is not enough staff and there is a supervision problem.

As for the vaccines that are lost in health centers, Galán-Rodas indicates that it is important for the population to get vaccinated. “There are countries that have not yet achieved enough vaccines for all their citizens. We have them, we must approach to vaccinate “he emphasizes.

This newspaper communicated with the Ministry of Health. Spokespersons of the entity assured that they would send their defenses, but until the closing of this report they did not respond to our queries.