4.000 Doses Of COVID-19 Vaccine In Barito Watershed Area Expired

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

PALANGKA RAYA - Head of the Central Kalimantan Health Office, Suyuti Syamsul, stated that there were around 4.000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in the Barito watershed (DAS) that had expired, so they were not used.

"This means that, after the expiration date, this vaccine is ex-French, namely AstraZeneca. Incidentally, we received it around October 10 and the expiration date on October 25 is very short," said Suyuti in Palangka Raya, quoted by Antara, Thursday, November 18.

According to him, the vaccine is not only in Central Kalimantan, but in many areas. In Central Kalimantan, the expired vaccines are spread over the Barito watershed area, which includes Murung Raya, North Barito, South Barito, and East Barito Regencies.

This expired vaccine, continued Suyuti, was due to a very short time, both when it was received and the end of its use. It's just that, for other districts that also received it successfully completed it.

Suyuti hopes that this kind of incident will not happen again and this November, some will continue to be monitored because they are approaching their expiration date.

"We only urge that something like this does not happen in the future," he said.

The expired vaccine, said Suyuti, so far there has been no further instructions regarding the action to be taken, so it is still stored according to existing storage standards while waiting for central instructions.

Responding to the expired vaccine, Central Kalimantan Governor Sugianto Sabran said the matter had been discussed with the district and city governments, and hoped it would not happen again.

"We have coordinated and we ask regencies and cities to accelerate vaccination, as well as deplete vaccine stocks, especially those whose targets have not been achieved optimally," he asked.

Meanwhile, the public is also reminded to remain disciplined in implementing health protocols during the pandemic, both in wearing masks, washing hands, maintaining distance, and staying away from crowds.