31 535 EXPIRED J&J DOSES TO BE DESTROYED - MINISTRY

MBABANE – The country’s slow response towards vaccination will cost government millions emalangeni as a total of 31 535 Johnson & Johnson (J&J) doses have to be destroyed.

This is according to the Ministry of Health’s latest report. Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi announced during a press briefing yesterday that following the expiry of the J&J it would be destroyed according to the guidelines for disposal.

Destroyed

Nkosi said although there were costs lost in terms of the destroyed vaccines, the huge cost was loss of life. She said the country received 302 400 doses of the J& J vaccine as a donation from the Government of the United States of America through the COVAX Facility in July, 2021. She said 263 309 were administered, while booster doses were 30 043. According to Nkosi, the personnel in the education sector were the first essential workers targeted with the J&J vaccine and they included educators from preschools up-to tertiary institutions to ensure the safe opening of schools. Thereafter, she said vaccination was open to all eligible individuals in an age phased manner until the age group of 18-year-olds. Nkosi noted that the COVID-19 vaccination roll out peaked in August 2021 but declined after the third wave in October 2021, due to various reasons with vaccine hesitancy being the major driver. She said this resulted in a substantial decrease in vaccine uptake and the ministry contacted the COVAX Facility requesting to re-deploy some of the J&J doses to avoid expiration.

Request

The minister stated that the initial request was to re-deploy 80 000 doses but after the COVID-19 vaccination campaign and the initiation of booster doses, they managed to reduce the re-deployment request sent to the COVAX Facility to 40 000 doses. However, Nkosi said their attempt to re-deploy was unsuccessful due to logistical challenges, hence the decision to destroy the expired J&J.

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