The Federal Ministry of Health has denied reports of COVID-19 vaccines expiring in its custody, placing blame on European countries that had donated short shelf life vaccines to Nigeria. 

“Nigeria has, of late, enjoyed the generosity of several, mainly European countries, who have offered us doses of Covid-19 vaccines out of their stockpiles, free of charge, through COVAX or AVAT facility. These donations are always acknowledged and thankfully received: however, some of them had residual shelf lives of only a few months that left us very short time, some just weeks, to use them, after deduction of time to transport, clear, distribute and deliver to users” the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. 

The ministry added that it does not dispense vaccines with a validity extended beyond labelled expiry date as it contravenes its standards. It noted that Nigeria accepted the questionable supplies of vaccines because of  “critical vaccine supply gaps and, being free, save us scarce foreign exchange procurement costs.” 

The ministry’s statement follows a Reuters’ report where it was alleged that about a million COVID-19 vaccines had expired in Nigeria in November without being administered. 

“The expired doses were made by AstraZeneca and delivered from Europe, the sources with direct knowledge of vaccine delivery and use told Reuters. They were supplied via COVAX, the dose-sharing facility led by the GAVI vaccine alliance and the WHO which is increasingly reliant on donations,” the Reuters report said.

Two sources had told Reuters of the expired goods and a third source confirmed that some of the doses arrived within four-to-six weeks of expiry and could not be used in time, despite efforts by health authorities.

A spokesperson for the National Primary Health Care Development Agency told Reuters that the number of vaccines received and used is still being tallied and it would share its findings in the coming days.

The country has faced logistical issues since it started receiving and administrating COVID-19 vaccines last year. In November, Peoples Gazette had reported that many Nigerians had not received the  vaccines due to poor road access and inability to locate health centres, while others do not trust the authorities. 

In February, the World Health Organisation suspended Nigeria from the list of recipients for its global COVAX scheme, as it fell short of its criteria to benefit from the scheme, which includes the ability to keep the vaccines frozen.