Govt to discard 92 000 expired Covid jabs
Health officials have confirmed that more than 92 000 doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine that are about to expire are going to be discarded by Thursday.
"All expiring stock is held in quarantine until the last day of expiry, after which the existing protocol for the destruction of medical waste will be activated to ensure safe and environmentally responsible disposal," says the department's spokesperson Foster Mohale.
Mohale says they've been left with no other option, partly because of waning vaccination rates.
He says this will be the first time since the shots arrived in the country in February last year that they'll be disposing of some batches.
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These amount to 0.24% of the total Pfizer vaccines we've received and is in line with the WHO's guidelines on vaccine waste.
"The department continues to explore various options to mitigate the wastage of vaccines as a result of expiry, including exchange and donation through the COVAX facility.
"However, not all countries use the same vaccines as those administered in South Africa, while other countries are also facing low vaccine uptake."
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