Coronavirus: WHO say make African kontris keep expired vaccines

Di World Health Organization (WHO) don tell African kontris say make dem no destroy Covid-19 vaccines wey fit don pass dia expiry date.

Di health body say instead make di kontris still keep dem and wait for further guidance.

Di appeal dey come afta Malawi and South Sudan say dem go destroy more than 70,000 doses of di Oxford-AstraZeneca jab because dem go expire for mid-April.

But di Africa Centres for Disease Control (Africa CDC) say dem don get assurance say di doses still dey safe to use even afta di expiry date don pass.

Many vaccines still dey okay for use for up to 36 months afta manufacture, but because Covid-19 jabs still dey new, enough data no dey to prove their effectiveness if e stay too long.

Di final decision on whether to use expired jabs dey di hand of di national drug regulators, di BBC health reporter for Nairobi, Rhoda Odhiambo tok.

Di rollout of coronavirus vaccines across Africa don dey slow, sake of supply issues and how pipo dey react to di injection as dem get trust issues.

"My appeal to member states na: if we dey do our part to arrange for these vaccines, you to do your part and use di vaccines," John Nkengasong, director of di Africa CDC, tell news conference on Thursday.

Malawi say dem plan to destroy more than 16,000 doses of di AstraZeneca vaccine, wey di Serum Institute of India (SII) manufacture because di expiry date na 13 April.

South Sudan also wan destroy about 59,000 doses for di same reason.

Di Africa CDC send di doses to di kontris for late March, few weeks before dem go expire.

Oga Nkengasong, wey call di vaccine landscape "extremely challenging", say di SII don advise Africa CDC say di "vaccines still fit dey used even afta nine months".

Di WHO Africa regional director Matshidiso Moeti don advise kontris to "store di vaccines safely as dem continue to study and try to get final advice on whether di vaccines fit last long and if e go still dey okay for use".

Apart from Malawi and South Sudan, di WHO say Ghana and Sierra Leone also neva use all of their vaccines finish sake of their expiry dates.

Sierra Leone health minister say di kontri still get about one third of di doses dem receive.

Out of di 55 African kontris, 41 don benefit from di delivery of vaccines via di global-sharing scheme Covax. Seven neva receive their first batch.