Nigeria’s health authorities destroyed more than a million doses of expired coronavirus vaccine in Abuja on Wednesday. A move aimed at reassuring a wary public.
Health authorities say the doses of vaccine from manufacturer AstraZeneca were delivered by international donors just before their expiration date, leaving them insufficient time to distribute them.
Nigeria, like many African countries, is struggling to get more people vaccinated and vaccination remains a divisive issue. So far, only 2% of Nigeria’s more than 200 million people have received two doses of vaccine against covid-19.
Other countries including Malawi, South Sudan, Liberia, Comoros, and the Democratic Republic of Congo have already destroyed expired vaccine doses.
This is attributed to a consequence of delays in the shipment of vaccine doses, particularly of AstraZeneca vaccine, which does not allow enough time to deploy them before expiration.
To further reassure people, authorities say they will no longer accept vaccines that do not have a long expiration date.
The government is trying to convince Nigerians of the quality and effectiveness of vaccines, but to no avail. That is why the authorities have decided to publicly show the destruction of the vaccines.