The Supreme Audit Office was audited by the Ministry of Health as part of the analysis of the state budget implementation and the assumptions of the monetary policy in 2018. It was found that the Ministry of Health allowed over 7 to be overdue and, consequently, to dispose of. PCV10 pneumococcal vaccines, worth 612,2 thous. zloty. Interestingly, many parents prefer to pay for another vaccine – PCV13, which was recommended by experts, and which the ministry did not decide on as part of compulsory vaccinations.
According to the Supreme Audit Office in “Implementation of the state budget in 2018, part 46 – Health and the implementation of the financial plan of the Fund for Solving Gambling Problems », incl. the control covered the use of PCV10 vaccine, stored in the Central Base of Sanitary and Anti-Epidemic Reserves, the expiry date of which expired on June 30, 2018.
Pneumococcal vaccines were purchased in December 2016 in the amount of 1 million 200 thousand. doses to perform a new immunization in a 3-dose schedule for a population of 400 children born from 1 January 2017, the Minister of Health, taking into account the possibility of overdue 252 doses worth 941 thousand. PLN, decided to use it for children who were not subject to compulsory vaccination (born before 21). He also took advantage of the possibility of the seller exchanging 600 thousand. doses of this series on vaccines with a longer shelf life. Despite the measures taken, 2017 vaccines were expired and disposed of, worth PLN 110, according to the NIK report.
«In the opinion of the Chief Sanitary Inspector, this was due to the short-term validity of the vaccine, which meant that healthcare providers did not want to take it for vaccination. Moreover
parents decided to vaccinate their child with another paid PCV13 vaccine, which concerned more than 30 percent. vaccinations »- we read.
Why did parents choose to pay for the PCV13 vaccine instead of taking advantage of the free PCV10 immunization?
The 10-valent vaccine (PCV10) protects against 10 pneumococcal strains, while the 13-valent vaccine (PCV13) protects against 13 strains. Importantly, however, according to the latest data from KOROUN (National Reference Center for the Diagnostics of Bacterial Infections of the Central Nervous System), published on April 25.04.2018, 2017 for 3, the most frequently detected serotype in the Polish population was serotype 13 (present only in PCV5 vaccine), and in in children under 19 years of age, the second most common serotype was 13A (present only in PCVXNUMX vaccine).
Poland is in the minority when it comes to the use of the 10-valent vaccine. The standard in developed countries is the implementation of the Protective Vaccination Program with the use of the 13-valent vaccine. Nevertheless, in 2019, compulsory vaccination against pneumococci in the general population of children is also implemented with the cheaper PVC-10 vaccine.