An international survey reveals that at least 240 million doses of vaccines against Covid-19 have been thrown away due to exceeding their expiry date, since the start of the vaccination campaign. A dizzying figure according to Le Monde, which cites the results of the health data analysis company Airfinity, based in London.
The case is revealed to us following an international journalistic investigation called “#followthedoses”. As its English name suggests, it is the tracing of vaccine doses that has made it possible to know these figures which are only an estimate.
Among the most wasted vaccines, that of AstraZeneca would represent 18% of the doses thrown away while that of Pfizer would be far ahead of the Swedish-British serum at 73%.
As third world or developing countries have not always been able to buy doses of vaccines, little information exists on this subject. But the survey evokes donations from northern countries to southern countries, which have reached the end of the validity date. Due to a lack of reliable data and taking into account the missing data, waste could not be assessed in its entirety.
“Too often, countries receive unscheduled deliveries of doses nearing expiry, with too little transparency on when the doses arrive, what vaccine and how much“, regretted, Tedros Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization.
The investigation also teaches us that serums are thrown away without any precaution. This represents a significant risk of soil pollution, but also groundwater, according to Laurent Wilmouth, general manager of the Cyclamed association, “charged by the general directorate of health with the elimination of expired or empty Covid-19 vaccines. “. To avoid these pollution problems, France incinerates the doses of vaccines.
In France, the Directorate General for Health indicated that 218,000 doses of AstraZeneka had been destroyed.