Switzerland has destroyed expired doses of Covid-19 vaccine because of unused stocks, according to “Courrier international”.
By The Point.fr
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VSLike many other wealthy countries, Switzerland bought far more Covid-19 vaccines than it needed to deal with possible quality issues or supply delays, reportsInternational mail. As a result, large quantities remain stored and become unusable over time. The country administered 16.1 million doses to its 8.6 million inhabitants (or 1.8 doses per person), and 70% of the population received at least one dose. Yet, in total, authorities obtained 32 million doses.
Switzerland has announced that it will destroy 9 million doses of Moderna vaccine that have already expired, and more than 5 million more are likely to follow, as they are due to expire in February. Thus, in anticipation of the destruction of expired doses in February, the country could destroy more than 14 million doses. Switzerland is not the first nation to destroy doses that could have been put to better use. Earlier this year, Canada destroyed nearly 14 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine because its population preferred one of the messenger RNA vaccines.
An inequality in the distribution of doses
Although developed countries promised more equitable distribution and pledged to share vaccine doses with low-income countries, they procured all the vaccines they could get their hands on, even as large parts of the world world were struggling to receive doses, relays the weekly. Low-income countries have already had to reject last-minute dose donations from wealthy countries, or destroy donated doses that arrived too close to their expiration date, making it impossible to administer them on time.
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At the start of the vaccination campaign, and before any doses had reached low-income countries, wealthy countries made deals with vaccine manufacturers to get around 350% of the doses they needed, according to Unicef. . During the second year of vaccination, the gap continued. While countries like the United States and many European nations have made up to three boosters available to their citizens, only around 23% of people in low-income countries have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.