240mn Covid-19 vaccine doses in rich nations to expire by March
The report, released by science analytics company Airfinity, came on a day when Unicef officials told Reuters that 100 million doses were rejected last month by poorer countries because they were nearing their expiry date.
Approximately 240 million Covid-19 vaccine doses are set to expire in G7 and European Union countries by March, independent analysts said on Thursday, shedding new light on surplus stocks with rich nations that could have been used in poorer countries where millions are yet to receive their first doses.
Vials of Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine against the coronavirus disease Covid-19 in a social center of La Gavotte Peyret popular neighbourhood, in Septeme-Les-Vallons, near Marseille. (AFP)
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The report, released by science analytics company Airfinity, came on a day when Unicef officials told Reuters that 100 million doses were rejected last month by poorer countries because they were nearing their expiry date.
The Airfinity analysis now estimates another 241 million will expire in G7 and EU nations by March. “These numbers show that vaccinating the world is now largely a distribution problem and no longer a supply issue. Even after successful booster rollouts, there are surplus doses available that risk going to waste if not shared very soon. The emergence of Omicron and the likelihood of future variants shows there is no time to waste,” said co-founder and CEO of Airfinity, Rasmus Bech Hansen.
The Airfinity forecast takes into account doses administered, boosters for everyone over 12 years-old, vaccine hesitancy and donations in G7 nations and EU.
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“Countries need these vaccines to have a minimum shelf life of two months, otherwise there isn’t enough time to get them to the people who need them. Once this two month requirement is factored into our analysis the number of potentially wasted doses could rise to 500 million by March,” said Matt Linley, lead analyst at Airfinity,
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“Countries need these vaccines to have a minimum shelf life of two months, otherwise there isn’t enough time to get them to the people who need them. Once this two month requirement is factored into our analysis the number of potentially wasted doses could rise to 500 million by March,” said Matt Linley, lead analyst at Airfinity,
Binayak Dasgupta is a senior editor at Hindustan Times, New Delhi, where he has worked since 2013. He heads the paper's Page 1 team and is part of the editorial leadership overseeing daily news operations. He has previously led the national news desk. His work sits at the intersection of specialist depth and emerging public consequence — stories where complexity and nuance are in themselves the journalistic challenge. He shapes Hindustan Times's coverage and editorial positions on technology and artificial intelligence, information security, environment, health and science — steering these subjects from the commissioning of reporting to editing and the framing of the paper’s institutional view. His work spans analysis, commentary and reportage, and in the past, he has led the paper's coverage of Covid-19 pandemic science. His interviews and hosted sessions include Nobel laureates, technology leaders, economists and climate justice scholars. In recent months, Binayak has overseen coverage of the Air India Flight 171 crash and its investigation, India's energy exposure during the West Asia conflict, the trade dispute with the US, Delhi's air quality emergency and the evolving conversations around AI, including the IndiaAI Summit.
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