Nigeria destroys 1 million expired donated COVID-19 vaccines

By CHINEDU ASADU
Associated Press

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria has had to destroy more than 1 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine that were too close to their expiry date to be used. Faisal Shuaib, head of Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said health officials were left with little choice. He said Wednesday that developed countries had obtained and hoarded the doses, only giving them to Nigeria when they were nearly expired. Only 2% of Nigeria’s 206 million people are fully vaccinated. Health officials have set an ambitious goal of vaccinating more than a quarter of the population by February. While hesitancy has been high, the country’s vaccination rate has nearly doubled over the past week.