A recent report has stated that when vaccines could have been used wisely, instead, they went to waste.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic wreaked havoc across the globe in the past two years. The deadly virus killed millions of people and left millions grieving. To counter the virus, Covid vaccines were developed in record time. However, the world faced a massive challenge of distributing jabs equally in different parts of the world. When high- and upper-middle-income countries were administering first and second doses of the vaccine, some nations were not able to reach this target – and most of them were in Africa.

WHO once stated that there are enough doses of vaccines globally to drive down transmission and save many lives if they, in time, reach the people who need them most around the world.

NBC News reported that more than 82 million Covid vaccine doses went to waste in the United States from December 2020 until the middle of May.
The US-based media outlet reported citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shared with it.

The number is basically an increase from the 65 million doses. It is a count CDC told the news agency Associated Press that had been wasted as of late February. As per the media outlet, the majority of discarded doses came from CVS and Walmart.

Earlier this year in February, CDC explained that as demand for Covid vaccines decreases, more vaccines will go to waste. The CDC states on its website: “As the rate of vaccine administration slows, the likelihood of leaving unused doses in a vial may increase, even when providers continue to follow best practices to use every dose possible.”

As per the report by NBC News, part of the waste is because doses reached their expiration date before they could be administered to patients.

Some doses were ruined due to power outages because vials are supposed to be kept in freezers. The report also noted unused doses from opened vials that had to be discarded at day’s end.

According to the CDC, over 751 million Covid vaccine doses in the United States are distributed and administered over 589 million doses.