Minister says Nigeria has only a few weeks to use some donated vaccines | Reuters

2021-12-13 21:03:17 By : Ms. Judy Gu

Reuters, Lagos, December 8-Nigeria’s Minister of Health said on Wednesday that some COVID-19 vaccines donated by wealthy Western countries have only a few weeks left to be injected.

Osagie Ehanire said that the Ministry of Health rejected some vaccine manufacturers' requests to extend the shelf life of these vaccines by three months.

Two sources told Reuters that it is estimated that as many as 1 million COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria had expired and were not used last month. This is one of the largest single dose losses, indicating that African countries have difficulty obtaining weapons. read more

In response, Ehanire stated in a statement that the expired vaccine has been withdrawn and will be destroyed by the National Food and Drug Administration. He did not give numbers.

He said that if vaccines with a short shelf life arrive back to back or arrive in large quantities, logistics bottlenecks will occasionally appear.

After the government launched mass vaccination in Abuja, Nigeria on November 19, 2021, a banner was displayed on the fence of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Vaccination Center. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde/Files

"Some manufacturers later proposed to extend the vaccine shelf life by 3 months. Although this practice was accepted by experts, it was rejected by the Federal Ministry of Health because our standards did not meet this practice," he said.

The World Health Organization stated in a joint statement with the African Disease Control Agency (Africa CDC), GAVI Vaccine Alliance and other health organizations on November 29 that the COVID-19 vaccine donated to African countries should have a shelf life of at least 10 weeks. Arrived in the country.

Ehanire did not specify the exact time when the vaccines will arrive, but Nigeria has "used them for a very short period of time after deducting the time for transportation, customs clearance, distribution and delivery to users, sometimes only a few weeks."

He said that the issue of donating doses whose shelf life expires to developing countries is under international discussion.

"Developing countries like Nigeria accept them because they have narrowed our critical vaccine supply gap and saved us scarce foreign exchange procurement costs for free," he said.

Our standard: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Subscribe to our daily featured newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters reports sent to your inbox.

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world's largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people around the world every day. Reuters provides business, financial, domestic and international news directly to consumers through desktop terminals, world media organizations, industry events and directly.

Rely on authoritative content, lawyer editing expertise, and industry-defining technology to build the most powerful argument.

The most comprehensive solution to manage all complex and expanding tax and compliance needs.

The industry leader in providing online information for tax, accounting and financial professionals.

Access unparalleled financial data, news, and content with a highly customized workflow experience on desktop, web, and mobile devices.

Browse an unparalleled combination of real-time and historical market data and insights from global resources and experts.

Screen high-risk individuals and entities around the world to help discover hidden risks in business relationships and interpersonal relationships.

All quotes are delayed by at least 15 minutes. Please see the complete list of exchanges and delays here.