Malawi has disclosed plans to destroy as many as 16,000 alongside South Sudan who also plans to destroy 60,000 expired vaccines despite advice from the World Health Organization.
The WHO has asked those governments to wait for its guidance saying that the vaccines could still be used even 36 months after its manufacture.
In a statement by the WHO’s Country Preparedness and International Health Regulation Officer, Wamala Joseph Francis, in situations like this, the manufacturers run additional tests to determine how long the vaccines will be stable for.
Malawi has, however, disclosed plans to go ahead with destroying the vaccines as the vaccines were effectively destroyed after compromising on its ideal environment – the cold chain system and burning them was only a formality.