The countries concerned are demanding vaccines that can be stored longer as part of the Kovacs system.

Poor countries refused to accept 100 million doses of the Kovid-19 vaccine last month because their expiration date was near, the United Nations said Thursday. The World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly accused rich countries of hoarding vaccines and giving only shorter shelf life doses to poorer countries. A “moral shame”, condemns the World Health Organization.

At the end of December, Nigeria consumed more than a million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine donated by developed countries a few months ago, but the expiration date was near.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), it plays a key role in the international Kovacs mechanism as a major logistics partner for the distribution of vaccines in backward countries, the second of which is now refusing to accept doses very close to the expiration date.

15 million doses were all rejected

UNICEF’s Supply Division Director Etlova Cadilli told the European Parliament’s Development Committee on Thursday that these countries need well – planned vaccination campaigns and vaccines that can be kept for as long as possible to vaccinate “difficult people”. – Reach out to territories and vulnerabilities. “

Poor countries rejected the 15 million doses given by the European Union in October and November. About 75% of them were AstraZeneca vaccines, and their expiration date was less than ten weeks after the vaccines reached their destination.

The international system for equal access to the Covax vaccine is set to deliver its billionth dose in the coming days. World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adanom Gebrias told a Covid-19 emergency committee meeting on Thursday that more than 9.4 billion doses of the vaccine had been given worldwide. But 90 countries have not reached the 40% vaccination target set by the end of 2021, he said, adding that more than 85% of Africa’s population, or about one billion people, has not yet received a single dose of the vaccine. . “