By David Lawani
The Federal Government has destroyed over 1 million doses of expired Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the country saying it has met its lifespan since it was shipped into the country for distribution.
This expiration was a result of delays in the shipment of vaccine doses, most especially that of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which the country could not roll out before the expiration.
By this action, Nigeria has also joined other African countries, such as Malawi, South Sudan, Liberia, Mauritania, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Comoros, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to destroy its expired COVID-19 vaccines.
Explaining the rationale behind the decision, the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, briefing pressmen at Gosa Dumpsite, in the FCT Abuja, noted that Nigeria had successfully withdrawn about 1,066,214, doses of expired Astra Zeneca vaccines from across the country.
His words: “As you can see these vaccines have now been deposited by the Abuja Environmental Protection Agency, we have come through in our promise to all Nigerians to be transparent in our delivery of vaccines. These vaccines did not expire before we took the decision to withdraw them today is an opportunity for Nigerians to have further faith in our vaccination program.
“Because we have lived up to the expectation of all Nigerians. We had the option if we were to take the advice of some experts to try and use these vaccines even beyond the label expiry date, but working together with our sister agency, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), who took that decision to destroy these vaccines at the point that they got expired,” he said.
He disclosed that the destruction was to prove and demonstrate the high standards that the agency placed on Nigeria.
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“The work that we do is the work that requires trust. It is a sacred trust that has been bestowed on us by the generalizing generality of Nigerians and hold that trust to be true. And we pride that trust very jealously. This is why today, we are destroying these vaccines that have expired
“A few months ago, when these vaccines were offered to us, we knew that they had a short shelf life. But we were living in an environment where the supply of COVID-19 vaccines was very scarce. They were not available due to vaccine nationalism. We had developed countries that procured these vaccines and hoarded them in their stores. At the point that they were about to expire. We were offered donations. Well, we appreciate the donation from these countries.“
The NPHCDA boss narrated that the vaccines since vaccines had expired there was no point in still keeping them assuring that every health of a Nigerian is very important to the government.
“This vaccine was tested and ensured that the vaccines were in good condition. We rolled out under very difficult circumstances. We actually got our frontline health workers, working night and day. The staff of the NPHCDA did not know Saturdays or Sundays. We were working around the clock on very extreme situations just to make sure that Nigerians have access to vaccines, even when these vaccines were not widely available. We’re able to vaccinate over 10 million Nigerians with these short shelf life vaccines.”
He stressed that if the country had waited till when vaccines would be widely available, maybe it would not have gotten any Nigerian vaccinated by now.
“So my heart and my pride go out to those frontline health workers that continue to work around the clock.
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“We still have short shelf life vaccines in the country. They are still potent. They have not reached the end of use dates and the health workers are still going around every community and settlement to ensure Nigerians are vaccinated,“ he explained.
Also, the Director-General, NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye, in her response said Nigeria was the only country with a unique vaccination programme.
“Nigeria has one of the best vaccination immunization programs in the world. UNICEF mentioned this last year. But we started this journey months before the vaccines came. In terms of what we are witnessing today. It is a continuous unfolding of the fact that the best is for all Nigerians because Nigerians deserve the best in terms of quality of medicines, vaccines.”
She narrated that when the vaccines got into Nigeria, they were received by the NPHCDA because it is the primary job to immunize the country.
“However, we have been working night and day together. And what he said about the vaccines coming with short expiration dates pose a challenge to us as a country. But because of the love of the country, we decided to walk with that tight timespan or challenge.
“We approved the dozier first when the vaccines come. Nobody uses the vaccines unless NAFDAC said so is that NAFDAC is working day and nights to ensure that the vaccines are of quality”, she said.
She added that this was part of quality control that the agency had been doing and in the regulatory language its called “market control”
“The vaccines come to NPHCDA, which is tested in the lab immediately people come from Lagos to sample, we test it, it’s not just testing also, we put it on dip database a track and trace database that will show us where the vaccines are in the country,” she explained.
The DG stated that NAFDAC was the only regulatory agency in Africa that was doing that for the COVID-19 vaccine.
