According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 82 million doses of COVID vaccine were lost in the United States from December 2020 to mid -May 2020. NBC News reported.
Most of the neglected doses came from CVS and Walmart, which cost about a quarter of all broken vaccines, most of the large quantities they produced.
The other five vaccine providers – Health Mart, DaVita, Rite Aid, Publix, and Costco – lost a larger share of the doses they received.
States also reported wasted doses. These include Oklahoma, which received 28 percent of the doses it received, and Alaska, which lost 27 percent of its share.
With the decline in demand for the COVID vaccine, waste is inevitable The CDC explains.
“As the vaccine rate slows, the likelihood of leaving unused doses in the vial may increase, even as suppliers continue to adhere to best practices for all possible doses,” it wrote. of the CDC on its website.
Some of the declines were related to doses that reached the expiration date before patients were admitted, while others went bad due to power loss caused by the use of freezers. Unused doses of opened vials that need to be discarded at the end of the day are also part of the waste. NBC News.
Last week, COVID vaccines were given at an average rate of 63,456 doses per day. Bloomberg reported.
News of the worthless doses came as the Biden administration warned that the country was running out of funds to pay for vaccines, treatment and testing.
Dr. Ashish Jah, the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator, said on Thursday that he was especially concerned that the country would run out of vaccines for the fall if Congress does not approve funding for COVID.
“If you want to ask what woke me up at night, it’s to say that vaccines are running out,” Jham told reporters. “We can’t get enough of the next generation of vaccines. We are about to run out of treatment. “And we’ll finish the diagnostic tests, probably in late fall, in the winter, when we’ll finally have a significant increase in infections.”
“We don’t have the resources to buy these items.” And these purchases have to be made now, ”Jham continued.It’s impossible to make them in the fall.
The White House said children under the age of five could receive the first vaccine on June 21st.
Source: Huffpost
I’m Liza Grey, an experienced news writer and author at the Buna Times. I specialize in writing about economic issues, with a focus on uncovering stories that have a positive impact on society. With over seven years of experience in the news industry, I am highly knowledgeable about current events and the ways in which they affect our daily lives.