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COVID-19 Updates » COVID-19 Vaccines can be Used Three Months after Expiry - WHO

COVID-19 Vaccines can be Used Three Months after Expiry - WHO


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April 28, 2021 at 2:42 PM

The World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is still effective three months after the expiry date.

Dr Yonas Woldemariam, the WHO country representative, said research has showed that the vaccine has more lifespan than what is indicated on the bottle (Vial).

"I know the question of expiry date of the vaccine has come forward. One of the issues about this vaccine is that it is new and everyday we learn. If you remember a few years back, we used to say the yellow fever vaccine only works for 10 years and now we say it is forever. The same way, science is telling us that at least the vaccine has an additional three months lifespan," Dr Woldemariam said yester during an engagement meeting with the leadership of health professionals on COVID-19 vaccination .

Recently, some African countries such as South Africa and Malawi indicated that they would destroy more than 70,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs because they expired in mid-April.

Uganda received 964,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX global sharing and a donation from the Indian government in March. However, the uptake of the vaccine has been low.

A total of 276,306 people had received their first COVID-19 jabs as of 26th April, 2021. Officials at the Ministry of Health said the vaccines are due to expire by July.

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