Indonesia seeks Covid-19 vaccine donations with longer shelf life as 19m doses have expired

JAKARTA -- 19 million doses of vaccines in Indonesia's national Covid-19 stockpile have expired this year and 1.5 million more are set to expire next month, as donated shots arrive with a short shelf life, a health official said on Wednesday (March 30).

Indonesia and many other developing nations are ramping up their vaccination campaign, aided by donations from wealthy countries, but they have been calling for donations with a longer shelf life.

Dr Lucia Rizka Andalusia, a senior health ministry official, told a parliamentary hearing that of the 19.3 million doses that expired between Jan and March, 97 per cent were donated.

Most of the expired were AstraZeneca's shot, and they also included Moderna's, she said.

Indonesia receives donations from the Covax global vaccine sharing scheme and countries such as Australia and the US.

Mr I Gede Ngurah Swajaya, a foreign ministry official, told the same hearing the country will stop receiving donations until April and tell donating countries that the vaccines donated must carry at least two thirds of the shelf life.

ALSO READ: Poorer nations reject over 100 million Covid-19 shots as many close to expiry

Indonesia's food and drug agency said earlier this month that it extended the expiry dates of several vaccines, including AstraZeneca's and Sinovac's, after reviewing new available data about their efficacy.

Indonesia would prioritise the distribution of vaccines nearing expiry, health ministry official Dr Rizka said.

Poorer nations rejected more than 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines distributed by Covax in Dec, mainly because of a rapidly approaching expiry date, a Unicef official said.