The Minister of Health Dr Osagie Ehanire, Wednesday admitted that Nigeria had been forced to withdraw expired COVID-19 vaccines from circulation, adding that the doses will be destroyed by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration, NAFDAC.
The vaccines were said to have been donated by European countries through COVAX or the AVAT facility, but most of the doses arrived in Nigeria with four to six weeks left to their expiration dates and could not be dispensed on time, despite the efforts of the health authorities.
According to the minister, Nigeria has utilized over 10 million short-life doses of COVID-19 vaccines so far donated to the country in good time and saved more than $40 million in foreign exchange.
He said donations of surplus vaccines with expiring shelf lives to low and middle-income countries has been communicated and is a matter of international discussion.
#Ehanire pointed out that developing countries like Nigeria accept them because they close critical vaccine supply gaps and save scarce foreign exchange procurement costs.
He said his ministry shares its experience with partners regularly and now politely declines all vaccine donations with short-shelf lives or those that cannot be delivered on time.
Minister of State for Health, Dr. Olorunimbe Mamora discusses this new challenge and tells us what options Nigeria is left with to ensure that it has access to and can procure COVID-19 vaccines with longer shelf lives.
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