Philippine official fired due to wasting government polio vaccine

A Philippine health official was relieved from the post due to her inaction that resulted in the waste of 70,000 vials of oral polio vaccine (OPV) that were bought with a World Bank loan, local media reported on Tuesday.

Carolina Herradura, director of the Department of Health's Procurement and Logistics Service, has been dismissed from service for failing to use more than the OPV worth 6.5 million pesos (some 135,420 U.S. dollars), the DZMM radio quoted Presidential Anti- Graft Commission chairwoman Constancia de Guzman as saying.

The dismissal order was released on Monday, according to de Guzman.

"This is in connection with the spoiled vials because of her negligence," de Guzman said.

The wasted vials were stored in a government warehouse, said de Guzman, who added that Herradura failed to conduct inspections before the OPV's expiration.

The expired vaccines were part of the 578,600 vials of OPV procured by the Department of Health with a loan from the World Bank, which amounted to nearly 1.19 million U.S. dollars, the radio report said.

In 2004, four Filipino congressmen revealed that the department failed to distribute 8 million pesos (some 166,000 U.S. dollars) worth of OPV vials. The complaint against Herradura was brought up by in August 2006.

Source: Xinhua