Vaccine wastage is a problem the Ministry of Health and Medical Services is grappling with in trying to vaccinate the last 10 per cent of Fiji’s population.

This was the revelation made Dr James Fong, who said they have had to throw away vaccines because of last minute refusals to get vaccinated.

Elaborating on the issue of vaccine shelf life when dealing with people who are hard to vaccinate, Dr Fong said: “It means we can’t predict how much stock to bring in and usually when we bring in a new product like the vaccine we don’t waste it because it’s donated and supplied to us on the premise that we won’t waste it.

“This is a problem that we are facing with the last 10 per cent. We have to plan every purchase and deployment carefully.”

He said they have faced instances when communities agree to get vaccinated but when the vaccination teams arrive they change their mind and refuse to be vaccinated.

“We have had a few wastages,” he said.

“For one vial we have to inject 10 people. We set up a group of people in some of the villages and then when we went into the village only one or two people showed up.

“So we had to run around and search for another eight people so that the vial is not wasted. And we have struggled with that.

“There have been instances where we have had to throw away vaccines because only one person turned up and we couldn’t use up the vial.

“So we have to go back again and try and get them vaccinated.

“Vaccinating the last 10 per cent of the population is hard. We are struggling to get beyond the 90 per cent mark.”

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