Expiration date passed, dilution error, refrigeration problems, cracked vials, open vials with unused doses ... According to the NBC channel, at least 15 million doses of anti-Covid vaccines have been thrown away in the United States since 1st of March.
This number of wasted doses has been reported by US states or pharmacies that administer the vaccines to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), the country's main federal public health agency.
While some vendors have reported several thousand doses thrown away at once, the most common reports were of only four wasted doses at a time, according to NBC.
Two national drugstore chains, Walgreens and CVS, reported over two million wasted doses each, and Walmart and Rite Aid, over one million.
According to previous data provided by health authorities, between the start of the US vaccination campaign in December 2020 and March, only about 200,000 doses had been wasted.
Of the 15 million subsequently thrown away, most were thrown away during the summer months (June to August), notes NBC.
"It's a question of fairness"
This figure represents a small fraction of the total number of doses distributed in the country since December (nearly 444 million), as well as the number of doses actually administered (371 million). Still, these losses occur while anti-Covid vaccination remains very unequal in the world and many countries have only been able to vaccinate a small part of their population, especially in Africa.
"It's an issue of fairness," Tim Doran, professor of public health at York University, told NBC. “You have very rich countries, with access to the vaccine, which simply throw away doses. The United States announced in early August that it had sent foreign countries 110 million doses of vaccine, and began to distribute in late August part of the donation of 500 million doses of Pfizer vaccine promised to poor countries.
