Gov't denies supplying expired COVID-19 vaccines
Larona Makhaiza | Thursday February 12, 2026 17:22
He dismissed the claims as false and misleading yesterday in Parliament, assuring the nation that all vaccines administered through the public health system meet strict safety and quality standards.
The assistant minister was responding to a question from Member of Parliament (MP) for Serowe South, Leepetswe Lesedi who had asked whether members of the public were ever offered expired COVID-19 vaccines.
In response to the questions, Ookeditse who is also MP for Nata-Gweta, said the administration of COVID-19 vaccines followed all the right channels despite the pandemic.
“Firstly, all COVID-19 vaccines received emergency use authorisation from different National Regulatory Authorities and the World Health Organisation. The initial shelf of COVID-19 vaccines was limited or had a shorter shelf life due to evolving data on stability at the time of initial regulations approvals,” Ookeditse told Parliament.
Furthermore, Ookeditse emphasised that not even one soul was administered expired COVID-19 vaccine. “No member of the public in Botswana was offered or administered expired Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine,” he said.
Supporting his argument, he said the vaccines that were received were all used within their shelf life as per the WHO requirements.
“As of August 8, 2022, Botswana had received 463 098 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Early consignments received on June 3, 2022, September 3, 2022, and November 17, 2022 had a six-month shelf and were distributed and utilized within their valid expiry dates,” he said.
The minister indicated that just like any other medications that have expired, they were destroyed, and such medicines include AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna, and Sinovac, not the Pfizer vaccine.
“All expired vaccines were withdrawn from health facilities nationwide. A total of 1 971 101 doses were destroyed,” he said.
He, however, reiterated that no one was offered an expired COVID-19 vaccine.
“There is no evidence that expired vaccines were administered, and therefore no population-level long-term health effects can be attributed to expired vaccines,” he said.