India has begun vaccination drive for children from age 15-18 years from Monday onwards. Both Covaxin and Covishield are available for the first dose of vaccination. However there have been concerns about the expiry date for the Bharat Biotech Covaxin doses. There have been cases in which parents have accused the government of using expired vaccines on children, which could pose the risk for complications and adversities. Government has said that they have increased the shelf life of the vaccine from 9 months to 12 months in November 2021 itself. Let us know some details about the expiry of vaccines and its usage.
When Do Vaccines Expire?
According to Dr. Sumeet Nigam, General Physician, Sahara Hospital, Lucknow, the vaccines expire according to the composition and shelf life of the vaccine. This can vary according to different vaccines. Currently shelf life of covishield is 6 months and COVAXIN is 9 months from the date of manufacturing. Under ideal circumstances, the shelf life of vaccine can be increased for a few months, considering the fact that temperature of vaccines is maintained.
Bharat Biotech Chief Financial Officer has denied any claims about circular passed by government in the recent times in his knowledge about extension of shelf life of Covaxin. Even though the shelf life has been increased, the expiry date should be changed ahead to administering it to the children. He said that BBIL makes sure that all its vaccine programmes are safe for everyone to use. Srinivas Tadepally, CFO Bharat Biotech has said that he won’t be able to tell anything about shelf life of the vaccine as such.
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Claims about Expiry Date of Vaccines
Many parents have raised concerns and blamed government for experimenting with lives of the children. Recently, a lady tweeted about the expiry of Covaxin been given to his child in recent vaccination drive for 15-18 years of children. She attached the expiry date of vaccine and raised serious concerns that government is trying to experiment with children life.
This has been described as “false and misleading” claims by the people and health ministry has said that they do not have proper information. A release issued by health ministry said that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation had approved extension of shelf life of Covaxin in from Nine months to 12 months.
The shelf life of Covisheild vaccine was also increased from Six months to Nine months in February 2021 itself. Ministry of Health has also mentioned that the extension of vaccine life has been done after comprehensive analysis and examination of stability. However, concern of parents are valid, as expiry date mentioned on the vaccines do not say so. Hence if the shelf life has been increased, then the previous batch should be immediately re-slipped for updated expiry.
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Why was date of expiry of Covaxin Extended?
As per details we know as of now, the Covaxin administered by Bharat Biotech got approval on 25th October 2021 to extend the shelf life of indigenously developed vaccine from 9 months to 12 months. This approval was based on availability of additional stability data submitted by Bharat biotech to CDSCO.
With the shelf-life extension, hospitals could utilize the vaccine stock nearing expiry for another 3 months and avoid vaccine wastage. In a recent statement by Bharat Biotech, they have said that safety and immunogenicity data have been excellent for children for ages 15-18 years.