By Annalisa Merelli
Published December 10, 2021
As many as 1 million doses of AstraZeneca’s covid-19 vaccine reportedly expired before they could be used in Nigeria, a country of more than 200 million where less than 2% of the population is fully vaccinated.
According to Reuters, the doses were sent from Europe through Covax, a program to distribute covid-19 vaccines donated by rich countries to poor ones. But Nigeria didn’t have enough time to distribute the supply before much of it expired—in some cases, within four to six weeks, versus the AstraZeneca vaccine’s typical shelf life of six months—and much of the donation went to waste.
Vaccine waste routinely occurs in large immunization campaigns, and rich countries such as the US, UK, and Canada have been especially cavalier in letting millions of doses expire and destroying them, even as the rest of the world was short on supplies. But what happened in Nigeria is a different issue: Not only is the number of wasted doses very large, but they arrived relatively close to their expiration date, in a county not yet equipped to ensure rapid distribution, offering yet another indicator of the severity and complexity of vaccine inequality.
Vaccine waste is on Europe, not Nigeria
The blunder in Nigeria isn’t the first. In November, despite needing vaccine doses, Namibia warned it would be forced to destroy doses because their remaining shelf life wasn’t long enough to allow for distribution. South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Malawi similarly had to destroy or return doses of vaccines donated by wealthy countries because they didn’t receive them in time to distribute them before expiration.
In November, Nigeria was able to distribute 800,000 doses that were close to their expiration date, thanks to a plan that has ramped up vaccine facilities, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
One year after the global vaccination campaign started, rich countries continue to hoard vaccines, pretty much limiting their global redistribution efforts to leftover doses arriving too late for their usefulness to be fully maximized.
Former UK prime minister Gordon Brown warned in late September that 100 million surplus doses of covid-19 vaccines would go to waste in rich countries by December and urged those nations to donate them instead. Even a timely response back then would have likely left receiving countries with only a few weeks to administer the doses.
Ad-hoc vaccine donation is ineffective
In a statement from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), on behalf of Covax, which it leads with the WHO, the organization nonetheless praised Nigeria’s success in delivering large numbers of doses in a short period of time, pointing at an important issue that limits the ability of poor nations to deliver what they receive: the lack of a vaccine supply stream that is predictable and reliable.
Although more doses of vaccines have been sent to poor countries (chiefly African) in recent weeks, the donations continue to be piecemeal and ad-hoc, with doses often received close to expiration dates, according to GAVI.
The lack of a steady stream of supply is one more challenge in countries already grappling with a lack of refrigerators or reliable electricity to store the vaccine in remote locations, a lack of health workers to administer the shots, a shortage of syringes needed to deliver the life-saving medicine into arms, and the need to conduct other large immunization campaigns alongside the one for covid-19.
So alongside other measures (such as sharing patents), wealthy countries need to get more consistent with how much they’re sending and how often, and making sure their donations have enough shelf life left to get distributed.
Responsibility is on vaccine manufacturers, too. “We’ve seen manufacturers [that] delayed their shipments to Covax while we know that they’re supplying other buyers, countries,” WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said at a recent press conference.
As the emergence of omicron has shown, until better immunity is reached globally, the whole world continues to be under threat from new variants. We need wealthy countries and drugmakers to stop treating poor countries as repositories for soon-to-expire leftovers, so that we have a chance to have some actual control over the pandemic.
Now, reading such information can make one become resentful. But I am not. Who do you blame? The foolish and gullible Nigerian government.
This information is gotten from: https://qz.com/africa/2100629/europe-donated-near-expired-doses-of-vaccine-to-african-countries/?utm_source=YPL&fbclid=IwAR1bm6zTchI3l7MiFAF9M27enZrs5FAqOMZ0L1iTNt6J6pSDHR_jatRWprc
Published by Kingsley Osajie
I am an Emissary of Light and an intrepid adventurer. A growth enthusiast and a quintessential person who is very passionate about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, inclusivity, equity, holistic living, mental health, diversity, altruism, sacred activism, service to humanity, gastronomy and compassion. I volunteer with organizations that are focused on youth, education/cultural exchange and climate change awareness. I currently volunteer with Stride Quintessential Youth Initiative (www.weartqp.org) an organization focused on raising the next generation change makers and quintessential African youths. I also volunteer as an English teacher with a Ukrainian organization ENGin Program; an organization promoting education, cultural exchange, peace, respect and compassion (https://www.enginprogram.org/). On my creative aspect I am a heart-based, talented, outstanding, prolific writer. I have published 8 books and currently working on my 9th book. I published several articles in a UK magazine, Canadian and American blog. As a creative person, I am also passionate about media and ICT. I am a graduate of Political Science/Social Studies from College of Education, Agbor Delta State in Nigeria. I did a diploma program on Agricultural Supply Chain Management from Acacia University, Arizona United States (through Athena Global Education) and another diploma program on Business Administration (through Athena Global Education).
Writing has always been a natural way of life for me. I also love meeting like-minded people, spending time in Nature. I am a promoter of anything which promotes Positive Vibes and Positive Energies. Anything that sets the tone for a Positive Life Momentum is my Hobby. I also believe in Compassion. Before I began my journey into Spiritual Awakening and Spirituality; I was a former baptized, zealous and dedicated Jehovah’s Witness. Somewhere deep down in my heart and subconscious mind I had this inner-knowing and feeling that religion is NOT the answer. At least I have the understanding that there is more than meet the eyes…it was not easy to leave a religion that claims to be better than every other ones; but with my determination to embrace my Higher Self, my Magical Divine Self—I summoned up courage and left Jehovah’s Witness in 2013. I could not have made a better choice! The effort and determination was worth it. You can read more about my journey of how I left religion and Jehovah’s Witness.
I am determined to use my blog to raise the Consciousness of Humanity to a Higher Dimension. I believes that I can use my writings to inspire, heal, empower, liberate, teach and enlighten Humanity into embracing Higher Consciousness. My vision is for a society where truth, justice, love, compassion and unity dwells. He strongly believes that people should be treated fairly and equally no matter their skin colour, gender, culture and sexual orientation. As one who is on the path of Personal Development, New Thought, Spirituality, Enlightenment and Inspiration; Kingsley believes that he can use his writings to inspire, heal, empower, liberate, teach and enlighten Humanity into embracing Higher Consciousness. I believe in compassion; compassion for one’s self and compassion for others as epitomized by Guan Yin the Goddess of Compassion. Eastern Spirituality and Spirituality in its entirety have always appealed to me. I follow the teachings and wisdom of Guan Yin, Buddha, Jesus Christs, His Holiness (the 14th Dalai Lama), Lazaris, Galexis, Sirian High Council and the Angelic Beings who works in the Greater Realms of Light and Love.
Other personalities that have been very influential to me are: Master Sri Akarshana, Sadhguru, Shelley Rogers Johnson (AKA Good Witch), Mooji, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Mother Theresa, Robert Kiyosaki, Morihei Ueshiba, Sarah Prout, Ikkyu, Oprah Winfrey, Buddha, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Florence Scovel Shinn, Norman Vincent Peale, Tony Robbins, Marianne Williamson, Eckhart Tolle, Max Erhman, Debbianne DeRose, Nathalie Thompson, Jeannette Maw, Erin Dragonsong, Melody Fletcher, Andy Dooley, Mike Dooley, Bob Marley, Anais Nin, Albert Einstein, Tess Whitehurst, Katherine Hurst, George King, Whitney Houston, Brenda Fassie, Nelson Mandela, Mary McKee, Guru Nanak, Dildar Virk, Enya, Mariah Carey, Jam Aiwuyor, Cynthia Morgan and Anja Ringgren Loven. I have been featured twice in an award-winning TV Station in Abuja where I talked about the issues affecting Nigeria and Africa I was also featured in an American blog where I shared my opinion about the Black Lives Matter. I am of the thought that we create our own reality and we can change the Narrative of our Reality and Lives. So feel free to surf my blog. Let’s labrish!
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Kingsley Osajie 