The World Health Organization has urged African countries not to destroy Covid-19 vaccines that may have passed their expiry date.
Countries should keep such vaccines and wait for further guidance.
The appeal comes after Malawi and South Sudan said they will destroy more than seventy thousand (70,000) doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab because they expired in mid-April. However, the Africa Centres for Disease Control said it has been assured that the doses are safe for use.
Many vaccines can be used up to 36 months after manufacture, but because Covid-19 jabs are so new there is not enough data to prove their effectiveness over longer periods.
The Centre says the final decision on whether to use expired jabs rests with national drug regulators.
