ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Nigeria destroys 1M expired donated COVID-19 vaccines

Share
LAGOS, Nigeria -

Nigeria destroyed more than 1 million expired doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday after authorities said they could not be used before their expiration date.

Faisal Shuaib, head of Nigeria's National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said health officials in Africa's most populous country were left with little choice after receiving the donated doses that didn't have much shelf life left.

“We had developed countries that procured these vaccines and hoarded them,†he said. “At the point they were about to expire, they offered them for donation.â€

Last week Shuaib had announced that Nigeria would no longer accept such donations, though he did not specify publicly what officials considered too short a shelf life.

Only 2 per cent of Nigeria's 206 million people are fully vaccinated, and health officials have set an ambitious goal of vaccinating more than a quarter of the population by February. While hesitancy has been high, the country's vaccination rate has nearly doubled over the past week.

Nigeria has been seeing a spike in confirmed infections since it detected the highly-infectious omicron variant in late November, recording a 500 per cent increase in cases over the past two weeks, according to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control.

The 2,123 new COVID-19 infections it confirmed on Tuesday was the highest daily tally since last January and the second highest since the pandemic began.

“If we are going to overcome this COVID-19 pandemic, we have to do better job of ensuring better supply of the COVID-19 vaccines,†said Shuaib. “No country will be able to eradicate COVID-19 ... until all countries are able to eradicate it.â€

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.

Stay Connected