About 100,000 doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine are at risk of being destroyed by the end of this month due to slow uptake by citizens, South African health authorities said.

South Africa has recorded the most coronavirus infections and deaths on the African continent, however inoculations have slowed and the country has ample vaccine stocks of about 25 million doses, Reuters reports.

“There is a risk that just over 100,000 or so doses which will expire by end of March ... may have to be discarded. It will be a sad day if significant volumes of doses can end up being discarded. We hope it will not reach that stage,” Health Minister Joe Phaahla told an online news conference.