SOME 8.5 million doses of Covid vaccines have expired because of a low take-up rate, the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said in a report.

The report said the voluntary option for the booster jabs and fear of side effects due to spread of misinformation were among the reasons for the low take-up rate. 

“Another reason for excess vaccines was because the vaccines were not delivered on schedule due to the high global demand,” the report stated. 

The 8.5 million vaccine shots cost RM505 million. 

PAC chairman Mas Ermieyati Samsudin today announced that the full report on the Health Ministry’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the issues of expired vaccines, faulty ventilators and overstock of personal protective equipment is available on the parliament website.

PAC’s report found that there was no contractual agreement for the purchase of 136 ventilators made through Pharmaniaga Logistics Sdn Bhd (PLSB). 

Despite PLSB’s lack of experience in procuring medical equipment such as ventilators, the firm was instructed to make an upfront payment for the ventilators due to its “existing relationship with the health ministry”. 

According to the report, the procurement of ventilators was conducted using WhatsApp instead of standard procedures. 

“This was done due to urgency and because of the constraints caused by the lockdown,” it said. 

“This effectively prevented the government from initiating legal action to recover losses from the 104 faulty ventilators that the health ministry received in 2020,” it added. 

The committee also found discrepancies in information provided by the Health Ministry and PLSB on the warranties for the 136 ventilators. 

The report also found that there was an oversupply of personal protective equipment, where some 850,000 boot covers worth close to RM1 million would reach its expiry date by the end of 2024. – October 30, 2023.