{"id":117536,"date":"2021-07-01T11:06:40","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T11:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=117536"},"modified":"2021-07-01T11:06:40","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T11:06:40","slug":"romania-asks-astrazeneca-to-okay-longer-shelf-life-for-unused-vaccines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/romania-asks-astrazeneca-to-okay-longer-shelf-life-for-unused-vaccines\/","title":{"rendered":"Romania asks AstraZeneca to okay longer shelf-life for unused vaccines"},"content":{"rendered":"
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romania has asked AstraZeneca to extend the shelf life of some 43,000 COVID-19 vaccines that expired on June 30, as the country has been unable to administer them in time due to the low take-up by the public.<\/p> Vaccine hesitancy is spreading in European Union member Romania as a result of entrenched distrust of state institutions, misinformation campaigns and lack of public awareness.<\/p>\n Authorities have opened appointment-free vaccination centres in markets, airports and concert halls, and is sending doctors door-to-door in villages, where scepticism is rife.<\/p>\n Some 77% of Romanians that have been vaccinated have received the Pfizer-BioNTech, followed by AstraZeneca with 9%, Moderna with 7.7%, and Johnson & Johnson\u2019s with 6.3%.<\/p>\n Left holding so many unused AstraZeneca shots, the government has asked the company to advise whether they can still be used after expiry.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the manufacturer provides us with data certifying long-term stability or longer than six months in the coming period … it is very possible that we will have this extension of the validity period,\u201d said Valeriu Gheorghita, head of the government\u2019s vaccination committee.<\/p>\n Canada\u2019s health regulator said on May 29 it has extended the expiry dates of two lots of AstraZeneca\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine by 30 days to ensure that provinces and territories are able to use up their existing inventory.<\/p>\n The approval to extend the shelf life of the vaccines to July 1 from May 31 was supported by scientific evidence, Health Canada said in a statement.<\/p>\n Bucharest, which missed its goal to vaccinate 5 million Romanians by the end of May, agreed to sell 1.17 million doses of excess Pfizer\/BioNTech vaccines to Denmark, the Danish health ministry said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Government data showed infection rates slowed dramatically over the past weeks, with 52 new coronavirus cases reported on Wednesday, raising the total number to 1,080,792.<\/p>\n More than one million people recovered so far and 33,786 have died.<\/p>\n