The doses expired on Wednesday, according to the Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS, confirming information from the Biopatcher news site that the cost of the doses intended for destruction was about 280 million Swiss francs (about 294 million euros).
In addition, 2.5 million doses remain stored in an army logistics base and 7.8 million doses in a warehouse in Belgium, the ministry said, which emphasized that its strategy for supplying vaccines from the start has been to order more doses than is necessary for Switzerland 8.7. one million population.
Thus, the state has ordered doses from different laboratories to avoid reliance on vaccines that may be ineffective, evade delivery problems, or violate contracts.
In June, Swissinfo news site estimated a surplus of 38 million doses of various Covid-19 vaccines in the country, which will expire before the end of the year.
About 3.5 million doses of the new Moderna vaccine will be available when Switzerland launches its next reporting campaign next month, the ministry said.
Switzerland, which has recorded 13,556 deaths linked to covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, has vaccinated nearly 70% of its population.
