BRUSSELS

The Belgian government announced on Monday that it will destroy nearly 6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines as they are outdated, local media reported.

“Several studies show that the vaccines adapted to BA.4/5 subvariants are significantly more effective than the original vaccines” against COVID-19, Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said in the health committee of the federal parliament, according to daily Het Laatste Nieuws.

Vandenbroucke said Belgium “cannot use anymore the surplus of original vaccines” and 2.6 million doses of Moderna and 3.3 million doses of Pfizer jabs “will be destroyed as soon as possible.”

The decision, he said, is “only related that new types of vaccines have been developed.”

The health minister also said Belgium “will not store in freezers those vaccines that cannot be used neither in the country nor donated to abroad.”