The Malawi government is this morning set to destroy 19, 610 expired doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine at the Kamuzu Central Hospital, Lilongwe.
The vaccines to be incinerated are part of a batch that arrived in the country on March 26 and expired on April 13.
Malawi has stood firm on its decision to destroy expired vaccines despite recent advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicating that expired doses can still be administered as there is no proof of their ineffectiveness.
Speaking following the development, Dr. Charles Mwansambo, Malawi’s secretary for health said destroying the expired vaccine is in line with Malawi government guidelines on expired pharmaceutical products.
Mwansambo also said using the expired vaccine would scare people from taking the jabs from the remaining stock.
