Short AstraZeneca shelf life complicates COVID-19 vaccine rollout to world's poorest
CTV
The relatively short shelf life of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine is complicating the rollout to the world's poorest nations, according to officials and internal World Health Organization documents reviewed by Reuters.
It is the latest headache to plague the COVAX vaccine-sharing project, co-led by the WHO and aimed at getting shots to the world's neediest people.
Initially, poorer countries and COVAX lagged richer countries in securing vaccine supplies, as wealthier nations used their financial might to acquire the first available doses.
As vaccine production ramped up and richer states began donating excess doses, some countries -- particularly in Africa -– are now struggling to administer the big shipments.
The need to turn down vaccines with short shelf lives, along with the initial inequality, hesitancy and other barriers, has contributed to a much lower vaccination rate in Africa where only around 10% of people have been immunized, compared with more than 70% in richer nations.