An audit by the Court of Audit (TdC) highlights the effectiveness of the vaccination process against Covid-19 and the importance of the centralized purchase of vaccines, but estimates the potential losses due to wasted doses at 54.5 million euros.
The TdC audit, released on Friday, states that the wastage of doses until March 2022 was 0.5%, out of a total of 119,800 wasted doses, as a result of implemented control and management mechanisms, with a rate “significantly lower” than in other countries, but between April and December 2022 “another 3.4 million doses of vaccines were unused (99.7% due to expiry date)”.
“If we add the unused doses in both periods, we get a total of 3.5 million unused doses, resulting in an estimated waste rate of 11.2% and corresponding to potential losses of approximately 54.5 million euros,” it concludes of the audit.
The TdC adds that these figures are the result of the allocation to Portugal of a quantity of doses “higher than necessary to meet the vaccination targets, as a result of an early and large-scale acquisition strategy”, but the waste “was kept to a minimum through loans, resales and donations, including bilateral donations under the GAVI/COVAX mechanisms”.
The audit also concluded that “the authorized and implemented expenditure appeared to be sufficient for the implementation of the vaccination program, which was mainly intended to support the costs of the purchase of vaccines, within the framework of the European Union’s centralized European acquisition procedure. ” (EU), adding that Portugal has authorized expenditure worth EUR 819 million between December 2020 and November 2022, of which EUR 797.5 million (97.4%) was for the purchase of vaccines.
“As of March 31, 2022, Portugal had ordered 61.2 million doses of vaccines, for a total value of 991.6 million euros. After deducting the EUR 41.3 million paid by the EU as an advance for the initial doses, the final amount paid by Portugal amounted to EUR 950.3 million, an amount that could still be eligible for financing through REACT -EU, up to an amount of EUR 232.4 million,” the document said.
Until that date, “the total expenditure incurred (paid) amounted to EUR 359.4 million and related to the purchase of vaccines (EUR 352.0 million; 97.9%), the materials necessary for their administration (3 .2 million euros; 0.9%) and the contracting of logistics storage and distribution services (4.2 million euros; 1.2%)”, with “the majority of expenditure being incurred in 2021 (343.2 million euros ; 95.5%)”.
According to the TdC, the average cost of administering each vaccine was 15.19 euros and the cost of purchasing each dose was 11.14 euros.
The audit highlights the effectiveness of the vaccination program, which “met the defined objectives, and in some cases even exceeded the established objectives, with vaccination rates higher than the European average, indicating positive results on the effects of the disease and on the burden of the national health services.” Service (SNS)” and the importance of joining the European Centralized Mechanism for the Purchase of Vaccines, which “was decisive in ensuring access to effective and safe vaccines, in sufficient quantities and at affordable prices, in the shortest possible time “.
The TdC emphasizes the efficiency and effectiveness of the logistics processes of storage and distribution, as well as the administration of vaccines, which allowed the vaccination goals to be achieved.
However, it states that the Regional Health Administrations (ARS) of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, Norte and Centro “reported a decrease in their relief activities due to the supply of health workers” to vaccination centers.
It is also pointed out that the communication plan implemented by the ‘Task Force’ during the management of the process was not followed up when vaccination became the responsibility of a coordinating team under the Ministry of Health, admitting that this “could have contribute to the population’s lower compliance with additional or booster doses.”
This conclusion leads the TdC to recommend, in particular to the Directorate General of Health, to draw up a ‘mass vaccination plan to be applied in future public health emergencies’, which ‘includes a communication plan for the vaccination campaign that increases population density’. compliance and combating disinformation”, as well as “mechanisms to strengthen vaccination teams that counter the diversion of human resources from primary health care”.
The Minister of Health is recommended, among other things, to ensure the “public disclosure of the main final results of external and internal controls regarding compliance with the defined vaccination and priority criteria, as well as the treatment given to complaints and reports based on them relate”. matters, to increase citizens’ confidence in the fairness of the vaccination process and thus their loyalty to possible future vaccination campaigns.”
It also calls for the modernization of the SNS IT system, which has revealed “limitations and limitations” during the vaccination process, suggesting that “the proper implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan in the field of the digital transition of the SNS” must be ensured.
Source: DN
