By City Review and Reuters

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has urged African countries to use the COVID-19 vaccines donated to them within the viability duration to avoid wastage.

The warning comes barely a week after South Sudan announced planned destruction of expired 60,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, which were found to be past their expiry date.

“My appeal to member states is: if we are doing our part to mobilise these vaccines, you do your part and use the vaccines,” John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), told a news conference.

Malawi plans to destroy more than 16,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India because the shots were not administered before the April 13 expiry date on the packaging. The doses were supplied via the AU thanks to a donation from telecoms group MTN

South Sudan has set aside 60,000 doses supplied by the AU and does not plan to use them because of the same expiry issue, a government official told Reuters last week.

On April 19, South Sudan COVID-19 Incident Manager Dr Richard Lako revealed the country would go ahead with the destruction of the doses after realising that they were unfit for use.

“We received 60,000 doses [and when they reached here], we later discovered that the life sale of the vaccine was remaining 14 days. So we immediately started engaging because we were looking at the capacity of 60,000 [which] we might not be able to finish,” COVID-19 Incident Manager Dr Richard Lako said.

Dr Lako emphasised that although the vaccines were already in the country, they are not going to be used.

“This vaccine is not going to be used because of the policy for drug and food authority which normally doesn’t accept anything to be used with shorter life. So now the ministry of health is now engaging the African Union and MTN with regard to that effect,” he said.

But Nkengasong, the continent’s top public health official, said the Africa CDC had informed countries receiving the donations that the shots could be used until mid-July, based on a further analysis conducted by the Serum Institute.

“The Serum Institute expanded that deadline based on their own analysis to July 13, and we shared that information with the countries,” he said. “We are in an emergency situation, and it is my appeal to all member states that when you get your vaccines, put down the right systems to use those vaccines quickly.”