The relatively short shelf life of AstraZeneca Plc's COVID-19 vaccine is complicating the rollout to the world's poorest nations, according to officials and internal World Health Organization documents reviewed by Reuters.
Many more vaccines are expected to be rejected as African nations and COVAX said that from January they would not accept vaccines with less than two-and-a-half months' shelf life.
Short shelf life is not generally a problem for a wealthy country with expertise and infrastructure. But without systems in place, it can be insurmountable. Taking into account only donated doses, which represent nearly half the billion vaccines distributed by COVAX, about 30 million AstraZeneca shots were rejected or deferred last year by poor nations, said Gavi, the nonprofit that co-runs COVAX alongside the WHO. That amounts to a quarter of AstraZeneca's donated shots via COVAX.
The main problem is the vaccine's shelf life of just six months from the date of bottling, the shortest among COVAX's top suppliers, several COVAX and EU officials told Reuters.COVAX's complex system to assign doses to countries, and donors' requests to deliver them to selected nations, often further eat into the vaccine's short life, leaving sometimes only a few weeks before they expire.
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Why Endemic Covid Could Lead To Another Deadly OutbreakI am a London-based reporter for Forbes covering breaking news. Previously, I have worked as a reporter for a specialist legal publication covering big data and as a freelance journalist and policy analyst covering science, tech and health. I have a master’s degree in Biological Natural Sciences and a master’s degree in the History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge. Follow me on Twitter theroberthart or email me at rhartforbes.com
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