The Nigeria’s Federal Government, on Wednesday, destroyed more than one million expired doses of Astrazenica COVID-19 Vaccine in an exercise led by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) witnessed by National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC).
The exercise, which took place at Gosa Dumpsite near the Idu Railway Station, Abuja, was carried out also in collaboration with the Abuja Environmental Agency and other Developments partners.
FG said it took the step to demonstrate commitment to ensuring that only safe Vaccines are administered on Nigerian citizens.
Speaking to the press on the exercise, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), said about 1,066,214 doses of the expired AstraZeneca vaccines were withdrawn from across the country for destruction.
He said, “As you can see these vaccines have now been deposited by the Abuja Environmental Protection Agency.
“We have come through in our promise to all Nigerians to be transparent in our delivery of the COVID-19 vaccines.
“These vaccines did not expire before we took the decision to withdraw and destroy them. Today is an opportunity for Nigerians to have further faith in our vaccination programme.
“We worked with our sister agency, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), who took the decision to destroy these expired vaccines.
“The work that we do is the work that requires trust. It is a sacred trust that has been bestowed on us by the generalizing generality of Nigerians and hold that trust to be true,” he added.
