Millions of Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine doses to expire soon in US

CNI Desk: While many countries are yet to receive even one dose of Covid vaccines, many US states are seeing unused Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses piling up on shelves — all set to expire this month, media reports say.

State officials have warned the doses could go to waste if they go unused in the coming weeks or are not sent elsewhere, IANS reported.

About 200,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are set to expire on June 23, New York Times quoted Ohio state Governor Mike DeWine as saying.

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine data tracker indicates that 21.4 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been distributed and that a little more than half have been administered, or 11.1 million, the report noted.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also voiced concern over wastage of vaccines on May 8. It urged the G7 leaders — the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US — to commit to sharing a minimum of 20 per cent of Covid-19 vaccine dose supply between June and August, which would provide more than 150 million doses to COVAX.