Italy will destroy at least 15 million doses of coronavirus vaccine due to the expiration date and obsolescence of the drug. It is reported by RBC with reference to La Repubblica.
According to the publication, pharmaceutical companies plan to release new versions of vaccines by the fall. The head of the department of the European Medicines Agency, Marco Cavaleri, said that the agency had asked to develop drugs against new sub-variants of the omicron strain.
He noted that monovalent vaccines against a single strain were requested, not bivalent ones. “It no longer makes sense to defend against the original, so-called Wuhan type of virus. By now, the entire population has been exposed to or vaccinated against this virus,” explained Cavaleri (quoted from Il Giornale d’Italia).
The average cost of one dose of the vaccine was 18 euros. Thus, 270 million euros were spent on 15 million doses that will become unusable at the end of 2023.
Cavaleri admitted that it’s a pity to throw away so many doses, but “it’s part of the mechanism to be prepared for.” “We need to invest so that the virus does not take us by surprise. If refrigerators [с вакцинами] were empty, and we suddenly had a new need to protect the population, that would be a problem. Too much is better than too little,” he concluded.
Source: Rosbalt
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