Italy to destroy 15 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine

Italy will destroy at least 15 million doses of CORONAVIRUS vaccine due to the expiration date and obsolescence of the drug, writes the newspaper La Repubblica.

According to the publication, pharmaceutical companies plan to release new versions of vaccines by the fall. The HEAD of the department of the European Medicines Agency, Marco Cavaleri, said that the agency had asked to develop drugs against new sub-variants of the omicron strain.

He noted that monovalent vaccines against a single strain were requested, not bivalent ones. “It no longer makes sense to defend against the original, so-called Wuhan type of virus. By now, the entire population has been exposed to or vaccinated against this virus,” explained Cavaleri ( quoted by Il Giornale d'Italia).

The average cost per vaccine dose was €18. Thus, for 15 million doses that will become unusable at the end of 2023, €270 million was spent.

Cavaleri admitted that it's a pity to throw away so many doses, but "it's part of the mechanism to be prepared for." “We need to invest so that the virus does not take us by surprise. If the refrigerators [with vaccines] were empty and we suddenly had a new need to protect the population, that would be a problem. Too much is better than too little,” he concluded.