An allegation made in Parliament of Uganda by Mr Jonathan Odur, the Erute South MP, that the National Medical Stores (NMS) has delivered expired COVID-19 vaccines to a number of vaccination centres across Uganda is FALSE.
During a debate in Parliament on Thursday 9 September 2021, Mr Odur accused the NMS of supplying AstraZeneca vaccines with an expiry date of September 2021 to several vaccination centres in the country.
“NMS delivered COVID-19 vaccines to a number of vaccination centres in the country, specifically AstraZeneca Vaccines packed in 4 milliliter bottles (PV46709) with expiry dates written EXP 08/2021 and EXP 09/2021. In effect, these vaccines have already expired,” said Mr Odur.
The legislator added that the program officer at the Ministry of Health, had directed the different vaccination centres to administer the said vaccines notwithstanding their status.
Mr Odur called upon the NMS not to administer the expired vaccines to the population, recall the said expired vaccines and urged the government not to receive vaccine donations whose expiry dates are due.
“The dangers of expired drugs and vaccines cannot be overstated. I have the following prayers; that the expired drugs should no longer be used to vaccinate the population, that NMS uses the same channels to recall this specific lot that has expired and that countries that are donating vaccines to us, should donate to us vaccines that have life in them,” Mr Odur said.
However, the NMS refuted the claim that the vaccines were expired and clarified that the said AstraZeneca doses would expire at the end of September 2021.
“This afternoon, Hon @JonaOdur (Erute South MP) made baseless allegations about NMS on the floor of Parliament. We would like to respond as follows: The Covid-19 vaccines we recently distributed expire at the end of this month, and that is how the donation was received,” the NMS responded on its official Twitter account.
The NMS further added that contrary to Mr Odur’s interpretation of the expiry date, the vaccine doses would be harmful after the last day of September 2021.
“Please note that the vial in question is marked 9/21. This means that you should not take the medicine after the end of the month given. For example, if the expiry date is July 2020, you should not take the medicine after 31 July 2020,” NMS added.
The NMS Executive Director and General Manager Moses Kamabare said that the Erute South MP Mr Jonathan Odur made a false claim.
“The COVID-19 vaccines we recently distributed expire at the end of this month (September 30th, 2021). That is how the donation was received,” said Mr Kamabare in the New Vision.
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