Moldova has received more than 2.9 million doses of vaccines since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of them, more than 2.2 million doses have been administered, and over 495,000 have expired. Some of them were disposed of, while others are still stored in the warehouses of the National Agency for Public Health (ANSP), Radio Europa Liberă reported.
According to the ANSP, more than 26,000 other COVID-19 vaccines will lose their validity by the end of the summer from the almost 3 million doses received by the Moldovan authorities, while only 31.5% of the population was fully vaccinated. Experts say the losses could have been avoided if there had been better planning of human and financial resources at the beginning of the vaccination campaign.
In Moldova, the COVID-19 vaccination effort began on March 2, 2021. At that time, the authorities did not have any funds budgeted for buying vaccines and the only possibility for Moldovans to get vaccinated was vaccine donations from other countries or international organizations. The government later bought more lots, but never disclosed the costs, making the information classified.
In May 2023, the WHO announced that the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a public health emergency, but rather a stable health problem. In Moldova, the virus took the lives of 12,118 people, or approximately the population of five villages.
