No Expired COVID-19 Vaccines in Circulation, FG Clarifies

•Says N16.4bn saved from 10 million vaccines

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire has denied media reports (not THISDAY) on administration of expired doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country.

In a statement yesterday, the Minister said on the contrary Nigeria had effectively utilised most of the over 10 million short-shelf-life doses of Covid-19 vaccines so far supplied in good time, and saved N16.4 billion or more than $40 million in foreign exchange.

He said vaccines that expired had been withdrawn and would be destroyed accordingly, by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

Ehanire added: “The attention of the Federal Ministry of Health has been drawn to reports circulating in the media to the effect that some Covid-19 vaccines had expired in Nigeria.

“Nigeria has utilised most of the over 10 million short-shelf-life doses of Covid-19 vaccines so far supplied to us, in good time, and saved N16.4 billion or more than $40 million in foreign exchange. The vaccines that expired had been withdrawn , and will be destroyed accordingly, by NAFDAC.”

The minister said Nigeria had received donations of COVID-19 vaccine doses from several countries, mainly European countries out of their stockpiles, free of charge, through COVAX or AVAT facility.

Giving reasons for the vaccine short expiry time, Ehanire said some of the countries had residual shelf lives of only few months that requires just weeks for usage after deduction of time to transport, clear, distribute and deliver to users.

He added that where such vaccines arrive back-to-back or are many, logistic bottlenecks occasionally arise, thereby resulting in expiration of the vaccine.

He further said the federal government had refused offers by some manufacturers to extend the vaccine shelf life.

“Nigeria does not dispense vaccines with a validity extended beyond labelled expiry date. We continue to adhere to our rigorous standards.

“Donation of surplus Covid-19 vaccines with expiring shelf lives to developing countries has been a matter of international discussion. 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.

“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.

Ehanire said the long-term measure to prevent vaccines with short shelf-lives was for Nigeria to produce its own vaccines, so that they would have at least 12 months to expiration.

According to him, the Federal Ministry of Health was collaborating with stakeholders to fast-track establishment of indigenous vaccine manufacturing capacity in order to avoid incidence of expired vaccines.