{"id":3915,"date":"2023-05-24T14:26:23","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T12:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wits-vida.org\/?p=3915"},"modified":"2023-06-22T16:26:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T14:26:00","slug":"https-www-citizen-co-za-news-pfizer-applies-extend-expiry-dates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wits-vida.org\/news\/https-www-citizen-co-za-news-pfizer-applies-extend-expiry-dates\/","title":{"rendered":"Pfizer applies to extend expiry dates on seven million Covid vaccine doses"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/span><\/a><\/span>

The Pfizer vaccine shelf life has been extended on several occasions since the outbreak of Covid-19. While the National\u00a0Department of Health<\/a>\u00a0has assured the public that the jab\u2019s shelf life can be safely extended.<\/h4><\/h2><\/div>

Pfizer vaccines shelf life<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cVaccine, like other medical products, is produced and maintained differently from food manufacturing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can extend the shelf life of vaccines through conducting what is called stability study, without necessarily recalling the products,\u201d explained the department\u2019s spokesperson Foster Mohale.<\/p>\n

Mohale said the Pfizer vaccine shelf life had been extended on several occasions since the outbreak of Covid-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is important is to comply with the storage requirements, which is exactly what the department\u00a0has\u00a0been\u00a0doing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Mohale explained that its non-disclosure agreement with Pfizer prohibits the department from commenting on the value of the doses.<\/p>\n

Wits University Faculty of Health Sciences Dean and Professor of Vaccinology Prof Shabir Madhi says it\u2019s not uncommon to increase vaccine shelf life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe expiry date can be extended provided the company demonstrates the stability of its product beyond a period when it was due to expire,\u201d said Madhi.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not uncommon; however, it is something the company would have to undertake before Sahpra can provide approval.<\/p>\n

Vaccine drive halted<\/strong><\/p>\n

Madhi reports that South Africa\u2019s\u00a0Covid-19<\/a>\u00a0vaccine drive has largely halted owing to \u201cvery little appetite for vaccines among communities\u201d.<\/p>\n

But, South Africa is also past the emergency period when the infection rate skyrocketed during the first two years of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason why it no longer poses such a massive threat despite modest vaccine coverage is because of the extensive infection-induced immunity, which we appreciate provides good protection against severe disease as well,\u201d said Madhi.<\/p>\n

But Madhi says complacency around the vaccine is justified because the virus is in an endemic phase.<\/p>\n

However, efforts to inoculate high-risk patients should continue.<\/p>\n

SAHPRA said it would not be commenting on the process at this stage.<\/p><\/h2><\/div>

Source: https:\/\/www.citizen.co.za\/news\/pfizer-applies-extend-expiry-dates\/<\/p>\n

By\u00a0Narissa Subramoney<\/a><\/p>\n

Deputy digital news editor<\/p><\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,39],"tags":[12,84],"class_list":["post-3915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-articles","tag-covid-19","tag-vaccine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wits-vida.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wits-vida.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wits-vida.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wits-vida.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wits-vida.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3915"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wits-vida.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3919,"href":"https:\/\/wits-vida.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3915\/revisions\/3919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wits-vida.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wits-vida.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wits-vida.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}