The Guardian reports about the United States wasting millions of Covid-19 vaccine doses even as shortages plague many parts of the world.
Vaccine Waste
At least 15m doses were scrapped in the US between March and September, according to one analysis of CDC data.
Thousands of doses are reportedly wasted each day in Wisconsin.
In Alabama, more than 65,000 doses have been tossed; in Tennessee, it’s almost 200,000.
But the news comes as millions of people around the world wait for their first doses.
Only 1% of the populations of low-income countries had received first shots as of July, compared with more than half of those living in a handful of high-income countries.
Pharmacies Defenses
Many of the discarded doses came from pharmacies.
Now, at least 7.6m discarded doses come from four major pharmacies: Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, and Rite Aid.
There are multiple reasons why doses have been wasted: sometimes a vial is cracked or doesn’t contain as many doses as promised; sometimes needles malfunction; freezers break down or the power goes out.
But as vaccinations across the country have stalled after peaking in mid-April, a growing issue is simply that the vaccines are expiring amid vaccine hesitancy in the US that is more widespread than first imagined.
Before June, a little over 2m doses had gone to waste, NBC News reported.
Pledge of Donation
The Biden administration has pushed to use the US vaccine stockpile for boosters, sometimes clashing with scientific agencies on who needs the added protection of an additional shot.
Officials are also working with vaccine manufacturers to reduce the number of doses in each vial.
In the face of global inequities, it’s not as simple as states donating unused vaccines.
Joe Biden has vowed to vaccinate 70% of the world in the next year and has committed to donating several million doses for use abroad.
Manufacturers should also scale up production to address global shortages, the administration has said.
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Source: The Guardian
