KEY Federal Government agencies, under the Federal Ministry of Health, on Wednesday, destroyed about 1.066 million doses of Astrazeneca vaccines donated to the country to combat COVID-19.
The destruction carried out in Abuja followed the expiration of the vaccines given to the country by foreign donors.
At the event, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) handed the vaccines to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), which, in turn, presented them to the Abuja Environmental Protection Agency to destroy at Gosa Dumpsite, Kilometer 2, near Idu Railway Station, Abuja.
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The destruction was supervised by the Executive Director of NPHCDA Faisal Shuaib and the Director-General of NAFDAC Mojisola Adeyeye.
Shuaib, at the event, said the action was carried out on behalf of the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, comprising also the Federal Ministry of Health, the NPHCDA and the NAFDAC.
“We had promised you in the last couple of days that we have successfully withdrawn about 1,066,214 of expired Astrazenecal vaccine. As you can see, this vaccine has now been deposited by the Abuja Environmental Protection Agency.
“We have come through in our promise to all Nigerians to be transparent in our delivery of vaccines. These did not expire before we took the decision to withdraw them,” he said.
Shuaib said it was an opportunity for Nigerians to have further faith in the country’s vaccination programme “because we have lived up to the expectations of all Nigerians.”
“We had the option if we were to take the advice of some experts to try and use these vaccines even beyond the labeled expiry date. But working together with my sister, the DG of NAFDAC, we took that decision to destroy the vaccines at the point that they got expired,” he added.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.
funny …. my country have started again, how do they convince us that the items destroyed were COVID-19 vaccines, or some group of individuals have syphoned the funds and the best way to cover their tracks is to claim they burnt EXPIRED VACCINES, first of all, are they supposed to hoard the vaccines to the extent of it being expired, Naija i tire oooo