Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, the director-general of NAFDAC, oversaw the burning of the vaccines at the Gosa Dump Site, near Idu Railway Station in Abuja, after reviewing boxes of expired AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.

She told journalists that of the 2,594,100 doses of vaccines received on the 11th and 29th October 2021, 1,527,886 were utilized in the country.

Adeyeye said the decision to destroy the vaccines came after several testing processes by the quality control department in NAFDAC which were conducted under the federal government’s policies to ensure that vaccines were properly examined.

The NAFDAC boss said it became necessary to destroy the vaccines to protect Nigerians from being harmed and reassured the media, civil society groups, and the general public that by 2022, Nigeria would start producing its COVID-19 vaccines, rather than depending on developing countries.

Dr. Faisal Shuaib, the NPHCDA’s executive secretary, previously stated that the vaccines had a limited shelf life, with some expiring in as little as two weeks.

He described the situation as sad, stating that although Nigeria appreciated the donors’ effort, keeping the vaccines was not in the country’s best interests.

Only approximately 10 million Nigerians have been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to Shuaib, but he is optimistic that the government will reach its goal of vaccinating 110 million people.