Brussels has dumped more than 200 million Covid vaccines at a cost of £3.4billion, a shocking new analysis has revealed.
In the years since the first coronavirus vaccines were given the green light towards the end of 2020, EU countries have taken delivery of 1.5 billion doses (three for every person in Europe. However, many have ended up in landfills across the continent, an analysis published by Politico has indicated.
The figures were calculated using available data suggesting EU countries have discarded, on average, 0.7 jabs per person. Top of the league is the Baltic nation of Estonia, which ditched more than one dose per inhabitant, followed closely by Germany.
The analysis – based on a total of 19 countries – puts the minimum figure at 215 million – but if the average waste rate is projected across the rest of the bloc, it could be as high as 312 million. In Ireland alone, 850,000 vaccine doses are believed to have been thrown away.
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The real number of vaccines dumped across the EU could be even higher. Germany for example supplied its data in June, at which point it had another 120 million vaccines in storage.
However, since then, vaccine manufacturers have developed newer versions adapted to the latest variants, rendering older jabs obsolete.
As of August 2023, 84.8 percent of the European population has been vaccinated at least once against COVID-19.
This contrasts with for example the continent, of Africa, where the figure is just 51.8 percent, according to the US-basd Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
