12 Feb 2026

The Ministry of Health has confirmed that while over 1.9 million vaccine doses were destroyed at a cost of approximately P16.9 million, no expired vaccines were ever administered to citizens.

 Answering a question in Parliament on Wednesday, Assistant Minister of Health, Mr Lawrence Ookeditse said any changes to the expiry dates of vaccines, particularly Pfizer, were not unilateral decisions made locally. 

Instead, Mr Ookeditse said, the extensions were sanctioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and international regulatory bodies like the FDA after rigorous stability testing proved the vaccines remained effective for longer than initially estimated. 

“No member of the public was offered or administered expired Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines,” he said. 

He added that government emphasised that all doses administered were within their valid and scientifically-approved shelf lives. Again, he said of the 6 326 694 doses received, a total of 1 917 101 doses, including brands like AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Sinovac, were eventually withdrawn from circulation. 

He said the expired stock, representing 7.9 per cent of the total supply, was destroyed via high-temperature incineration. 

“This method was specifically chosen to mitigate environmental risks, ensuring that no chemicals would leach into the soil or groundwater,” he added. 

Furthermore, the assistant minister indicated that the total monetary value of the vaccines lost to expiry was calculated at P16 909 236. 

He said while the financial loss was notable, the ministry underscored that the priority remained the prevention of health risks. 

Addressing public anxiety regarding long-term side effects or deaths, Mr Ookeditse said there was no evidence linking the vaccination drive to any fatalities from expired doses, as those doses were successfully intercepted before use and that surveillance continued to show no signs of population-level long-term health complications. 

The assistant minister said government was committed to international health standards and assured that all medical supplies used in the country continued to undergo strict regulatory oversight.

 He was responding to an inquiry by Serowe South MP, Mr Leepetswe Lesedi, who had asked the minister if any members of the public were ever offered COVID-19 expired doses and vaccines as well as the number of people who were given expired Pfizer shots locally and the number of people who died during and after the COVID-19 vaccination. 

Mr Lesedi also wanted to know if any vaccines were destroyed, the quantities of those destroyed, the monetary value of all expired and destroyed vaccines and how many Batswana were suffering from the long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccines, among others. BOPA