UAE

Life and Living

World

Opinion

Business

Sports

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Travel

Reviews

Brands

Supplements

KT Events

KT APPDOWNLOAD

Type your keywords

Nigeria to destroy one million expired Covid-19 vaccines

Minister says Nigeria will no longer accept vaccines with a short shelf life

Read more...
A nurse prepares the Moderna coronavirus vaccine at the health center in Lagos, Nigeria. — AP file

By Reuters

Published: Mon 13 Dec 2021, 11:42 PM

Nigeria will destroy around one million expired Covid-19 vaccines, Faisal Shuaib, head of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), said on Monday. He said his agency was working with drug regulator NAFDAC to set a date for their destruction.

Nigeria’s health minister Osagie Ehanire said last week some Covid-19 doses donated by rich Western countries had a remaining shelf life of only weeks, adding to the country’s challenges in vaccinating its people. Fewer than 4 per cent of adults in Africa’s most populous nation of over 200 million have been fully vaccinated.

Advertising
Advertising

Shuaib said the country had been accepting vaccines with short shelf lives from international donor nations in an attempt to use them quickly and provide some level of protection for Nigerian due to vaccine scarcity in the past.

ALSO READ:

Shuaib said Nigeria will no longer accept vaccines with a short shelf life, citing a presidential committee decision.

Last week, Reuters reported that around one million Covid-19 vaccines were estimated to have expired in Nigeria last month without being used.

Still, the World Health Organisation’s vaccine director Kate O’Brien said in a briefing on Thursday the proportion of wasted doses is smaller in countries receiving doses through Covax than in many high-income countries.

Reuters

Published: Mon 13 Dec 2021, 11:42 PM

Recommended for you