Indonesia seeks longer shelf life donations as 19 million COVID shots expired.
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Loading... - Bagus Setiawan
- 31 Mar 2022
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Nineteen million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in Indonesia's national stockpile have expired this year and 1.5 million more are set to expire next month, as donated shots arrive with a short shelf life, a health official said on Wednesday.
Indonesia and many other developing nations are ramping up their vaccination campaign, aided by donations from wealthy countries, but they have been calling for donations with a longer shelf life.
Lucia Rizka Andalusia, a senior health ministry official, told a House of Representatives hearing that of the 19.3 million doses that expired between January and March, 97 percent were donated.
Most of the expired doses were AstraZeneca's shot, and they also included Moderna's, she said. Indonesia receives donations from the COVAX global vaccine sharing scheme and countries such as Australia and the United States.
