Nigeria destroys more than a million expired doses of AstraZeneca

So far, Nigeria has registered 231 410 cases of covid-19, and just over 2% of the population has been vaccinated against the coronavirus with the full schedule.

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The Federal Government of Nigeria destroyed more than a million expired AstraZeneca vaccines on Wednesday, as confirmed by Nigerian health authorities. The vaccines had expired in November and were part of a batch of more than 2.5 million doses that Nigeria received on October 11 and 19.

The director of the National Development Agency for Primary Health Care (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, explained that a few months ago, when they received the doses, “we knew they had a short shelf life, but we lived in a scenario where the supply of vaccines against covid-19 was very scarce.”

At that time, according to Shuaib, the “countries that make vaccines” they were stockpiling them in their warehouses and “offered donations” to Nigeria only “when they were about to expire.” In addition, the NPHCDA recognized that various logistical issues and other problems on the ground also contributed to vaccines expiring before they could be administered.

Last November, the African Union’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Africa and the World Health Organization’s COVAX mechanism asked the international community to follow strict regulations when delivering doses against covid-19 to the countries of the continent. These institutions regretted in a joint statement that many donations were sent to African countries “on short notice and a short shelf life”, which makes health authorities have problems planning vaccination campaigns.

For now, Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, with some 206 million inhabitants, has registered more than 231,410 cases of covid-19, of which about 3,000 have resulted in deaths. So far, just over 2% of the total Nigerian population has been vaccinated against the coronavirus with the full schedule.