Malawi To Destroy Expired Astrazeneca Vaccines

Malawi has said it will go ahead and destroy more than 16,000 doses of expired Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines despite the World Health Organization, WHO advising against it.

In early March, Malawi received 360,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines but discovered that the vaccines were due to expire before they were all administered.

The WHO said the vaccines can be used up to 36 months after manufacture and advised African countries to keep hold of them and wait for further guidance.

But Malawi’s Ministry of Health spokesperson, Joshua Malango, told Newsmen that Malawi will go ahead and destroy 16,440 doses of the vaccines.

He said the reason was because news of extension of shelf life was shared with Malawi only after the vaccine had already expired and taken out of the cold chain system which ensures the temperature of the vaccine doesn’t fluctuate and then lose its potency.

Malango said the vaccine doses were effectively destroyed the moment they were removed from the cold chain system after the expiry date and that the incineration was only a formality.

He further said that most people were already hesitant to get vaccines and even less if they thought they had expired and so destroying them would restore people’s confidence.

Both Malawi and South Sudan say they may destroy as many as 70,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab insisting the vaccines have passed their expiry date.