LILONGWE: Malawi on Wednesday destroyed 19,610 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines that expired 18 days after arriving, despite assurances from the African Union (AU) and World Health Organization (WHO) that the vaccines were safe until mid-July.
A batch of 102,000 vaccines arrived on March 26, under an initiative by the AU and WHO, and they expired on April 13, leaving less than three weeks for them to be used. Malawi managed to deploy about 80 percent of them by that time.
John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), part of the AU, told a news conference late last month that the shots could be used until July 13, based on a further analysis conducted by manufacturers the Serum Institute of India (SII).
He and the WHO also urged African countries not to waste vaccines donated to them.
However, the Malawian government said it would not give expired vaccines to its citizens.
“We are destroying (them) because, as government policy... no expired vaccine has ever been used,” said Health Minister Khumbize Chaponda, at Kamuzu Central Hospital in the administrative capital Lilongwe.
She then threw the shots, which were wrapped in red plastic bags, into an incinerator, causing a cloud of dark smoke to billow from its chimney.
“On behalf of the government I assure all Malawians that no one will be given an expired COVID vaccine,” she said.
A CDC Africa official declined to comment.
SII did not immediately respond to a request for comment. India’s drug regulator in March allowed the SII-produced AstraZeneca vaccine to be used for up to nine months from its manufacture date, as opposed to the earlier six months.
South Sudan has set aside 59,000 doses supplied by the AU and is not using them because of the same expiration issue.
Malawi’s health ministry said the country had administered 335,232 vaccine doses as of May 18, and recorded 34,231 COVID infections and 1,153 deaths.
African countries have struggled to secure enough COVID-19 vaccines to roll out mass immunization. Many rely on handouts from global vaccine scheme COVAX, which is co-led by the WHO and partners including the Gavi vaccines alliance.
Malawi burns nearly 20,000 expired COVID-19 shots despite assurances on shelf life
https://arab.news/bdvkq
Malawi burns nearly 20,000 expired COVID-19 shots despite assurances on shelf life
- 102,000 vaccines arrived on March 26, and they expired on April 13 leaving less than 3 weeks for them to be used in Malawi
- Malawian government said it would not give expired vaccines to its citizens
Denmark to expel non-Danes if jailed for one year or more
- “We prefer to protect our countries rather than protect offenders,” Frederiksen said
- The government plans to boost incentives for voluntary returns
COPENHAGEN: Denmark will expel non-Danish citizens who have served prison terms of a year or more for serious crimes, part of new measures to tighten immigration policy, the government announced Friday.
“Foreign offenders sentenced to at least one year in prison for serious crimes, such as aggravated assault and rape, should, in principle, be expelled,” the immigration ministry said in a statement.
Under current regulations, expulsions are not automatic, as Denmark complies with international conventions protecting the right to private and family life and forbidding inhumane treatment.
The Scandinavian country has, together with Britain, recently called on Europe to reform the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which safeguards fundamental freedoms.
“It is right and necessary for European countries to sit around a table and say that we prefer to protect our countries rather than protect offenders,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told journalists.
“When international rules were drafted, I don’t think anyone imagined that someone would flee the Middle East to come to the best country in the world and start raping girls and women,” she said.
“At the time, it was absolutely not imagined that the victim would become the perpetrator. And I can assure you that, unfortunately, many of them have,” she said.
According to statistics from the immigration ministry, around 70 percent of foreign nationals sentenced to prison terms of one year or more for serious crimes have been expelled.
In addition, the government — which insisted that “refugees must be in Denmark on a temporary basis” — plans to boost incentives for voluntary returns and to tighten rules for foreigners in departure centers.
Denmark also said Friday it would reopen its embassy in Syria and establish cooperation with Afghanistan.
In the departure centers, some foreigners who fail to comply with their reporting requirements will be required to wear electronic ankle tags.
The reforms are expected to take effect on May 1.
