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Expired COVID-19 vaccines are being destroyed by government officials in Abuja, Nigeria. [Courtesy]
Donation of Covid-19 vaccines with short shelf life to African countries is worrying experts.
African CDC has cautioned against receiving the vaccines, irrespective of shortage in supplies.
Dr Ahmed Ogwell, Africa CDC deputy director said handing over vaccines nearing expiry is akin to dumping.
“It irritates me when countries keep vaccines for months, and then when they approach expiry dates, they are donated. This is inhuman for countries claiming to be human rights champions,” said the deputy director. He added: “They deny Africans vaccine and when they are close to expiry, they dump it.”
On Wednesday, Nigeria destroyed more than one million doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine doses that were about to expire.
The head of Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency Faisal Shuaib said developed countries procured the vaccines and hoarded them.
The country plans to vaccinate 55 million people out of a population of 206 million, by February 2022.
However, according to health records, only two per cent of the population has been vaccinated, a number way lower than World Health Organisation target of 10 per cent of a country’s population. The WHO target was to be met by September this year.
Shuaib, told Aljazeera that though the country was aware of short shelf life of the vaccines, it was forced to pick them following shortage of supplies in the continent.
“Nigeria was put in a difficult situation by developed countries that had procured these vaccines and hoarded them at the point they were about to expire, they offered them for donation,” he told the media.
Nevertheless, Ogwell said Africa CDC is revamping supplies of vaccines to the continent by negotiating with vaccine manufacturers to enable low-income countries afford them. Johnson & Johnson reduced prices by half.
“We are ramping up deliveries this month. Speed of manufacture and supply is what has been slower than what we had expected,” he said.
But Prof Julius Oyugi, director of research, University of Nairobi Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases, said it is upon countries to administer the vaccines before expiry. (See detailed story on page 30)
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