Covid-19 vaccine donated by AU to South Sudan expires

About 60,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine donated by the AU to South Sudan expired before they could be used, the country's health officials have said.

BBC reported that about 2,000 health workers and the elderly have been vaccinated in Juba, South Sudan's capital.

The report said the state's incident manager, Dr Richard Laku, said the country wouldn't have finished the 60,000 donated doses before their expiry date even if it had started using them. 

The World Health Organisation in Sudan said they would assist the South Sudan government on how to dispose the vaccine if asked.  

In March, TimesLIVE reported that SA concluded its sale of a million AstraZeneca vaccine doses to the AU.

The vaccine doses were sold to the AU after they were found to have limited efficacy against mild and moderate disease caused by the Covid-19 variant dominant in SA.

TimesLIVE