SA’s medicines regulator has extended the shelf life of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine by a further six months, giving the health department a narrow window in which to administer more than 7-million jabs before they expire.

Health minister Joe Phaahla told parliament in June that the government had 7.48-million doses of expired Pfizer vaccines on hand, worth an estimated R1.2bn, which would go to waste unless the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) agreed to the manufacturer’s request to extend their shelf life...

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