Bulgaria: Expiration Date of Covid Vaccines Could be Extended Says Head of Agency for Medicines

The shelf life of vaccines could be extended, this has already been done for Pfizer.

The European Medicines Agency has evaluated and confirmed that the period could be extended from 6 to 9 months. So, for all vaccines delivered in Bulgaria,  the shelf life has been extended as matter of regulation.

This was explained by Bogdan Kirilov, director of the Bulgarian Executive Agency for Medicines.

Any change in the brief description is not something specific for Bulgaria, it applies to all other countries, Kirilov added.

This is not a precedent, it happens for medicinal products, when additional data are accumulated and after evaluation, the shelf life is extended. In Bulgaria there are currently batches with a expiration date in September, respectively now it is until December, Kirilov explained.

Nearly 6.6 million of the vaccines approved so far have been delivered to Bulgaria so far.

There are available from all licensed vaccines in EU, about 2.5 million doses are given, and about 550,000 are donated to non-EU countries. 100,000 doses have been resold to Norway, negotiations are underway, explained the director of the Executive Agency for Medicines.

Based on the frequency of administration of the doses in Bulgaria, it is necessary to look for such options, so active negotiations are underway, said Kirilov./ bnt

Continue reading on: