According to data shared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with NBC News, 82.1 million Covid vaccine dosages were discarded by states, federal agencies, U.S. territory, and pharmacies between December 2020 and mid-May. This is just more than 11 percent of all doses that the federal government distributed. This is an increase on the 65 million doses that the CDC stated were lost as of February.
CVS and Walmart were responsible for more than 25% of all doses that were thrown away in the United States during this time, partly due to the sheer amount of vaccine they handled.
Health Mart, DaVita Rite Aid, Publix, Costco, and Health Mart — five other pharmacies or dialysis centres — disposed of fewer doses overall, but they did a greater share. They discarded more than 25% of the vaccines they received, which is well above the national average. According to CDC data, two states also disposed of more than a quarter their doses. Oklahoma threw out 28 percent of nearly 4 million doses and Alaska threw away nearly 27 percent of its 1,000,000 doses.
According to World Health Organization estimates, the overall amount of waste generated by large vaccination campaigns is within acceptable limits. Public health experts stated that the waste is still alarming in a time when only half of Americans are fully vaccinated and many countries remain poor when it comes to vaccine supply.
Dr. Sheela Shenoi from Yale School of Medicine, an infectious disease specialist, said that “it’s a tremendous loss in pandemic control — especially when you consider the millions of people around world who haven’t been able to receive a first dose.”
There are millions of vaccine doses that have been wasted. Some were left on shelves, some were lost to the power outages or freezer failures, others were spoiled by thousands, and others were tossed in the middle of the day because no one wanted to take the last doses from an open vial.
Contrary to other immunizations available in the U.S.A, coronavirus vaccines are in multidose vials. This means that all doses must be taken within 24 hours of opening the vials.
This is a contributing factor to vaccine waste, according to state health officials and pharmacies. Others claimed that the minimum order of vaccines is so large that people are left with less than they need.
CVS and Rite Aid both stated that their priority is to provide the vaccine upon demand. They are willing to accept a tradeoff if injecting a shot into an arm requires opening a new vial, and then wasting any remaining doses.
CVS disposed of nearly 11.8million doses or 13 percent of its 89.9million total. Although the percentage of doses that were thrown away is slightly higher than the national average, it still represents more doses wasted than any other state or pharmacy.
The company stated in a statement that they often need to open multidose vials at the end of the working day to allow for one walk-in. These vials are very fragile and have a short shelf life. Unused vaccine will be disposed off. Others who administer vaccinations face the same problem.
Walgreens, the nation’s largest pharmacy chain, wasted 8.3 Million Doses, or 10.5 percent of nearly 79.6 Million doses.
The company stated that the reasons for the waste were no-shows, cancellations, and expired open vials.
The company stated that the CDC’s latest guidance recommends that COVID-19 vaccines be given first, even if they lead to vaccine waste.
Experts and officials agree that the challenge of getting vaccines into arm has become more difficult with a decreasing demand.
Ravi Anupindi, an associate professor of operations research management at the University of Michigan, said that “the demand has plateaued” or is falling, which leads to open-vial waste, especially when multidose vials are involved. She has also studied vaccination campaigns.
He said, “It’s not a supply problem.”
According to the CDC, it is working with manufacturers to develop single-dose vials of Covid vaccines that are smaller and more efficient in order reduce waste.
“Vaccine usage was high in the initial months of the campaign, but has declined in recent months; however our commitment to providing vaccines and boosters to anyone who wishes one remains unchanged,” Kate Grusich, spokesperson for the agency, stated in an email.
Pfizer, the manufacturer of one of three US-approved vaccines, stated that it has designed its packaging and storage to meet the demands of its global distribution network.
The company stated in a statement that it is constantly improving the storage, handling, and storage requirements of vaccines to support handling and reduce the number that go unutilized.
Johnson & Johnson, another manufacturer, stated that the Food and Drug Administration had extended the shelf life for its vaccine by up to 11 months in refrigerated storage in April.
Johnson & Johnson released a statement saying that they are continuing to work with the U.S. health authorities and government to reduce waste and ensure availability.
Moderna, the other manufacturer, did not respond immediately to a request for comments.
Walmart was the company that wasted the most doses, after CVS. It disposed of 10 million of the 44.6 million, or 22.6 percent, it received. The company claimed that the waste was due to waning demand and multidose vials. They also offer the vaccines on an as-needed basis.
DaVita, which operates dialysis centers in the country, wasted more than 39 percent of the doses received. It claimed that its level of waste was comparable to the average before a storage error by one of its vendors.
Health Mart, which is a network that includes more than 4,690 independent pharmacies received almost 1.8 million doses. It also wasted 796.546, or 44.5 percent, the highest awardee. According to the company, part of this is because its pharmacies are located in rural areas where there are fewer patients.
Health Mart stated in a statement that while they will likely open fewer vials on an average day, they may have to open one for a patient who does not have access to other care options.
Alaska was plagued by the requirement for vaccine manufacturers to order a minimum number of doses. This led to Alaska wasting 26.7 percent of its 1,000,000 doses.
Clinton Bennett, spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services said that a minimum order of 100 to 300 doses was too many vaccines for rural/remote Alaskan areas.
The CDC data on vaccine waste is almost certain to be an undercount. It doesn’t include four states, including Ohio, Maine, Ohio, and Oregon, that experienced technical difficulties with their data reporting systems.
Representatives from the Oregon and Louisiana health departments claimed that they combined a total of more than 1.7 Million doses of medication that is not included in the CDC’s data.
A spokesperson for Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated that the state’s vaccination waste was “negligible”. Ohio did not respond to requests for comment.