Government destroys 1,066,214 doses of expired COVID-19 Vaccines in Abuja

*The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) explains that it became necessary to destroy the expired vaccines to protect Nigerian consumers from being harmed during the ongoing vaccinations against COVID-19 in the country

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

As the authorities indicated earlier in protecting the consumers, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) have destroyed 1,066,214 doses of expired AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine in Abuja, FCT.

ConsumerConnect gathered the batches were part of the 2,594,100 doses of vaccine brand received October 11-29, 2021.

One million, five hundred and twenty-seven thousand, eight hundred and Eighty-six of the vaccines (1,527,886) were said to have been utilised.

However, the batches of the vaccine destroyed got expired November this year.

The regulatory agencies destroyed the affected batches of the vaccines at the Gosa Dumping site, about 2Km away from the Idu Railway Station, in Abuja.

Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, Director-General of NAFDAC, reportedly said that the decision to destroy the vaccines followed several testing processes that were conducted.

The NAFDAC Director-General declared that it became necessary to destroy them to protect Nigerian consumers from being harmed in the course of the ongoing vaccinations against COVID-19.

Likewise, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, Executive Secretary of NPHCDA, said the vaccines came with a short lifespan, some as short as two weeks to expiration.

Dr. Shuaib has described the situation as unfortunate.

According to him, although Nigeria appreciates the gesture of the donors, it was not in the interest of the West African country that vaccines with a short lifespan are sent to it for inoculation against the damaging Coronavirus disease.

Shuaib also stated that only about 10 million Nigerians have been vaccinated against COVID-19 thus far.

The NPHCDA Executive Secretary, however, expressed optimism that Nigeria would be able to meet its target of vaccinating 110 million Nigerians.

Nigeria cuurently intensifies efforts at sacling up the speed of vaccinations in the wake of a 4th wave of the virus, the infection rate appears to be witnessing a spike, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) statistics.

The health agency, Tuesday, December 21, 2021, confirmed 2,123 new COVID-19 infections, a number regarded as the highest daily case tally in the country since January 27, 2021.

Kindly Share This Story