One million COVID-19 vaccines is reported to have expired in Nigeria in November 2021.
In the report, Reuters citied at least two sources, explaining that the development shows one of the biggest single loss of vaccine doses that highlights the difficulty African nations have in getting shots in arms.
African governments have been pushing for more vaccine deliveries as inoculation rates lag richer regions.
In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and home to more than 200 million people, fewer than 4% of adults have been fully vaccinated, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The expired doses were made by AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and delivered from Europe, the sources with direct knowledge of vaccine delivery and use told Reuters.
They were supplied via COVAX, the dose-sharing facility led by the GAVI vaccine alliance and the WHO which is increasingly reliant on donations.
A third source with knowledge of the delivery said some of the doses arrived within four-to-six weeks of expiry and could not be used in time, despite efforts by health authorities.
A count of the expired doses is still underway and an official number is yet to be finalised, the sources said.
“Nigeria is doing everything it can. But it’s struggling with short shelf life vaccines,” one source told Reuters. “Now (supply is) unpredictable and they’re sending too much.”
A spokesperson for the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said the number of vaccines received and used is still being tallied and it would share its findings in the coming days.
The WHO said doses had expired, but declined to give a figure. It said 800,000 additional doses that had been at risk of expiry in October were all used in time.
“Vaccine wastage is to be expected in any immunization programme, and in the context of COVID-19 deployment is a global phenomenon,” the WHO said in a statement responding to Reuters’ questions. It said vaccines delivered with “very short” shelf lives were a problem.
Nigeria’s vaccine loss appears to be one of the largest of its kind over such a short time period, even outstripping the total number of vaccines that some other countries in the region have received.
Meanwhile, the federal government says it has started rejecting COVID-19 vaccines with short shelf life or those that cannot be delivered on time.
Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said this while reacting to the report that one million COVID vaccines in the country have expired.
But responding in a statement, Ehanire said Nigeria has utilised most of the over 10 million short-shelf-life doses of COVID-19 vaccines so far supplied to it, in good time, and saved N16.4 billion or more than $40million in foreign exchange.
He said the vaccines that expired had been withdrawn before then, and will be destroyed accordingly, by the National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
He said donation of surplus COVID-19 vaccines with expiring shelf lives to developing countries has been a matter of international discussion.
The minister said developing countries like Nigeria accept them “because they close our critical vaccine supply gaps and, being free, save us scarce foreign exchange procurement cost.
“This dilemma is not typical to Nigeria, but a situation in which many Low- and medium-income countries find themselves.
“The Ministry of Health shares its experience with partners regularly and now politely declines all vaccine donations with short shelf life or those that cannot be delivered in time.
Ehanire said donors also recognise a need to give away unused vaccines, before they expire in their own stock, but they need to begin the process early enough and create a well-oiled pathway for prompt shipment and distribution through the COVAX and AVAT facilities, to reduce risk of expiration.
“With better coordination, vaccines need not expire in the stock of Donors or Recipients,” he said.
He said Nigeria has, of late enjoyed the generosity of several, mainly European countries, who have offered doses of COVID-19 vaccines out of their stockpiles, free of charge, through COVAX or AVAT facility.
He said the long term measure to prevent such incident is for Nigeria to produce its own vaccines, so that vaccines produced have at least 12 months to expiration.
“This is why the Federal Ministry of Health is collaborating with stakeholders to fast-track establishment of indigenous vaccine manufacturing capacity. This is a goal we are pursuing with dedication,” he added.
By Reuters
