The Ministry of Health should recall some of their least demanded COVID-19 vaccines to avoid cases of expired vaccines, the District Health Officers have advised.
This came up during the two-day Health Sector Joint Review Mission that took place in Kampala this week.
DHOs from the districts of Luwero and Buikwe claim that some of the vaccines that they were sent have a short shelf life and become unusable after four weeks, once they have been opened and reconstituted.
According to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines both can last up to six months if they’re stored properly.
However, the Pfizer vaccines require ultra-cold storage – approximately -158 degrees Fahrenheit – to last that long. Also before mixing, the Pfizer vaccine may be stored in a regular freezer, between -13 degrees Fahrenheit to 5 degrees Fahrenheit, for up to two weeks. CDC guidance indicates that it can only be stored for five days at regular refrigeration temperatures.
The CDC also says that both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines take a few hours to thaw and must be administered quickly once they are no longer being refrigerated. The Pfizer vaccine is only stable for six hours at room temperature while a punctured Moderna vaccine vial is viable for up to 12 hours.
DHOs based on this to ask the health ministry to recall the vaccines and send them to places that need them the most to avoid wastage. Dr Innocent Nkonwa the Luwero District Health Officer says his district has over 150,000 doses of vaccines that cannot be used by their expiry date.
However, Dr Henry Mwebesa, the director-general of health services rejected the call for redistribution arguing that the districts are, on average, given 30,000 doses of vaccines which are too few to be redistributed.
He added that instead of complaining, DHOs should organize campaigns to increase the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.
