If you had thought you had missed the boat getting one of the discarded vaccines – let’s face it, thanks to social media, everyone knows at least three or four people who have run to get one – then think again as deliveries continue to come in.
This may be just as well, as many of the vaccine doses currently stored in refrigerators at the Statens Serum Institut (SSI) center in Amager expire within the next three months.
According to TV2, more than half a million AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccines expire during this time period: 59,300 doses by 30 June, 358,700 by 31 July and 110,400 by 31 August.
Once the 233,850 single-dose vaccines Johnson & Johnson (J&J) are included, which have an expiration date of 2023, it is reported that the SSI Center has 762,250 vaccine doses.
Currently, most people voluntarily choose to take one of the discarded vaccines J&J. About 10,500 have been administered so far.
Not a used car shop!
SSI has confirmed that deliveries from both vaccine manufacturers continue to flow into Denmark.
“They have committed to some big contracts, and no matter what you decide afterwards, they are responsible,” a spokesman for SSI confirmed to TV2.
Copenhagen University expert Flemming Konradsen is not impressed, as the vaccines will be superfluous if Denmark does not use them, as COVAX, the vaccination program that ensures doses to poor countries, will not have them.
“This is not a used car shop,” he explained.
“Confidence in vaccine programs is low in some countries that receive COVAX doses, and if they unfortunately received a shipment of old vaccines, it would be devastating. – both for health and self-confidence. It is simply easier to coordinate large lumps coming from a central location at an agreed time and according to an approved roll-out plan. โ
Christian Wejse from Aarhus University agreed: “Once they have been to Denmark, COVAX does not want them.”
MEPs call for swift action
With the expiration dates in mind, the Unity List, the Socialist People’s Party, the Conservatives, the Liberal Party and the Danish People’s Party all want quick action.
“No vaccines must be wasted, and if they get too old, they must travel abroad,” claimed Per Larsen from the Conservatives.
It has been proposed that the 59,300 AstraZeneca doses with an expiry date of 30 June be sent to the nearby German region of Schleswig-Holstein.
Peder Hveplund from the Unity List believes that it would be a “horror scenario” if the vaccines were spilled.
The Ministry of Health has confirmed that “the government is continuously assessing the possibility of donating vaccines abroad”.
Konradsen believes that an EU destination is the best choice. “Now that we have come out of guard a little late, the second best solution may be to give the vaccines to countries within the EU,” he concluded.
Source: The Nordic Page