Malawi is set to destroy 16,400 expired AstraZeneca vaccines out of 100,200 doses donated by the African Union only two weeks before their expiration date, the country's Health Ministry spokesman Joshua Malango told Sputnik on Thursday
JOHANNESBURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2021) Malawi is set to destroy 16,400 expired AstraZeneca vaccines out of 100,200 doses donated by the African Union only two weeks before their expiration date, the country's Health Ministry spokesman Joshua Malango told Sputnik on Thursday.
"We have already withdrawn and are to destroy the vaccines. We absorbed others for inoculation reasons prior to the expiry date. Our rollout is going unhindered as we expect more vaccines in May from the Covax Facility," Malango said.
According to the official, Malawi managed to use the 85,600 doses in its mass vaccination campaign before expiration, though the country was forced to speed up the rollout to prevent bigger waste.
Malawi aims to inoculate 11 million people by the end of the year. Apart from the vaccines directly obtained from the African Union, the country has secured 360 000 vaccines through the Covax Facility. India has also donated a further 50,000 doses to the country's vaccination program, Malango noted.
