Health authorities in Malawi are expected to destroy more than 19,000 doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines later on Wednesday.

They say the vaccines have expired and there is no sufficient data to know if they are safe for use, following guidance from the World Health Organization.

It will become the first African country to publicly dispose of expired vaccines.

The authorities say the move seeks to give confidence to Malawians to get the jab when available.

So far, the uptake of Covid-19 vaccines has been low, mostly because of widespread misinformation around their use.

Officials fear that using vaccines past their expiry date will further reduce public trust.

However the government in Malawi is optimistic that the uptake will improve once they get the next batch from Covax.

More than 330,000 Malawians have been vaccinated.