Public health departments move doses from some of the least-vaccinated states like Indiana and North Dakota to others in an effort to find providers who can use them.
According to The Associated Press, state health departments said they have tracked millions in doses that were thrown away, some of which were not usable or could not be reused.
It was impossible to use nearly 1.5 million doses of Michigan, 1.45million in North Carolina, 1,000,000 in Illinois, and almost 725,000 doses for Washington.
California has a very low percentage of doses that are wasted. However, California has administered over 71 million doses and received approximately 84 million doses. This equates roughly to 1.4 million doses. The California Department of Public Health stated that providers are required to keep the doses until they expire and then dispose of them properly.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the national rate of doses wasted is 9.5% of the 687 million doses delivered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of February. This equates roughly to 65 million doses.
This problem isn’t unique to the U.S. Over a million doses Russian Sputnik vaccine expired in Guatemala this week, as no one wanted to get the shot.
Managers of vaccine programs say that it is necessary to distribute doses in an inoculation campaign due to the difficulty in coordinating supply and demand for products with limited shelf lives.
The coronavirus pandemic killed 6 million people worldwide and decimated economies around the world. Every dose wasted is a missed opportunity, considering the success of vaccines in preventing serious diseases and death.
It also happens only a year after people who desperately wanted to get the vaccine tried to rush to be first in line. Hospital board members, trustees and donors from around the U.S. were granted early access to vaccinations. This raised concerns about favoritism at a time in which the developing world was lacking any vaccines.
Many poorer countries still have low vaccination rates, with 13 African countries having less than 5%. T They are plagued with unpredictable deliveries, weak healthcare systems, vaccine hesitancy, and other supply issues. However, health officials claim that inventory is much stronger than it was earlier in the pandemic.
The CDC advises doctors to throw away any doses that are not needed.
“If you pivot to what’s currently happening, you have more production and distribution for low-income countries,” stated Dr. Joseph Bresee who directs COVID-19 Vaccine Improving Program at the Task Force for Global Health, Decatur, Georgia. “The problem of some stockpiles of vaccines in the U.S. and Japan that are not distributed to sub-Saharan Africa is less acute now, because vaccine production and distribution are in high-gear serving low-income countries.
The Department of Health and Human Services stated that it is impossible to distribute excess shots from states to other countries due to the difficulties in transporting them, and because the shot concentrations are so small, it is also not cost-effective.
HHS Monday said that 550 to 600 million of the 687 million doses have been given to states out of 687 million. The US vaccines, which were made by Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, can be used for six months after they are manufactured.
Senior HHS officials familiar with vaccine distribution plans criticized the use of the term “wastage” and said it implied mismanagement, even though states are actually managing their inventories. However, the CDC uses the term “wastage”, and requests states to report their numbers on its website.
Thursday’s statement by the CDC stated that the federal government and jurisdictions have a strong partnership in getting as many people vaccinated. This includes reducing vaccine wastage and increasing demand. However, providers should continue to follow best practices and use every dose.
As the pandemic is waning in the U.S., so does the demand. The CDC reported that 90% of Americans live in areas where coronavirus poses a low to medium risk. Residents don’t have to wear masks indoors. This was more than 70% the previous week.
The average American getting their first shot has fallen to about 70,000 per day , the lowest level since December 2020 when the U.S. vaccination campaign began. Approximately 76% of Americans have received at least one shot, and approximately 65% of Americans are fully vaccinated.
States will face more waste due to low demand in the months ahead. However, they will still benefit from booster expansions.
Idaho has for instance 230,000 doses but administers a median of 2,000 doses per week.
Oregon’s vaccination rates are slightly higher than the national average. However, the state’s health authority stated last week that they have “significant oversupply vaccine” due to the recent drop in demand. The state is working to get as many of its 716,000 vaccines as possible.
At slightly over 80%, Rhode Island has the highest number of fully vaccinated residents in the country. However, the health department reported that they had 137,000 doses last week. Officials from the health department say they are needed to push for an increase in booster doses.
Some states have created “matchmaker” programs that connect over-dosage vaccine providers to those who are looking for new doses. Many stated that they are trying to redistribute expired doses. New Jersey has a taskforce that has moved more than 600,000. doses throughout the state since June. West Virginia offered to transfer adult Pfizer doses to neighboring states.
Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managements, stated that while single-dose vials have been requested by immunization managers, particularly pediatricians, it is not feasible for manufacturers to package vaccines in this way. She stated that wasting vaccine is not an issue.
We tell providers about this, but it is important to get people vaccinated. It’s difficult when there is less demand. She said that you don’t need constant flow. “But that’s just an evil I suppose.”
HHS stated that states are placing orders prudently in response to the decline in demand. According to HHS, the minimum order for Pfizer was once close to 1,200 doses. Now it is 100 and Moderna has reduced the number per vial.
“Given the current situation in terms of the unvaccinated population, I believe that any means of getting the shot in arm, even at the cost of possible wastage, is important,” Katie Greene, assistant research director at Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, said.
