(ANSA) - NEW YORK, MARCH 04 - American states are struggling with a surplus of vaccines mainly due to the collapse in demand.
Millions of doses have already expired and an equal number are close to expiration.
To these must be added the doses that for various reasons are wasted.
According to reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the federal body that deals with public health, the waste rate at national level is about 9.5% out of a total of over 687 million doses distributed until the end of February.
A percentage that translates into 65 million doses.
According to what the Associated Press writes, citing the health departments of various states, in Michigan it was not possible to use one million and 500 thousand doses, almost the same figure in North Carolina, one million in Illinois and 725 thousand in the state of Washington.
The waste problem isn't just about the United States.
For example, in Guatemala, over a million doses of the Russian Sputnik vaccine have been wasted due to the refusal of the population to immunize.
According to experts, it is also something inevitable because it is difficult to match stocks and demand for a product that has a limited storage period.
Vaccines licensed in the United States and manufactured by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have a shelf life of approximately six months.
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