Nigeria to reject vaccine donations with short shelf lives

By CHINEDU ASADU
Associated Press

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Authorities in Nigeria have announced that the West African country will no longer accept COVID-19 vaccines with short shelf lives after it was unable to use 1 million doses before they expired. Faisal Shuaib, who leads Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency, says those expired doses will be destroyed. He says the government also has decided it will start rejecting vaccine donations that have short shelf lives. Africa’s most populous country has only been able to fully vaccinate 1.9% of its 206 million people. While at least 30 million doses are currently available in Nigeria, authorities say the rush to distribute those close to expiring has created an additional burden on health care workers.