Coronavirus: the United States had to throw away at least 15 million vaccines | While some countries have very low vaccination rates

The United States has wasted at least 15 million coronavirus vaccines since March 1, as reported on Thursday by the local press through information obtained from the health authorities.

The number of doses discarded has been reported by states and pharmacies that administer vaccines to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the main federal public health agency in the country.

This is likely a subreport, as several states or federal agencies are missing from the data. Reasons include expired expiration date, dilution error, refrigeration issues, and cracked bottles.

Each vial contains several doses, so once the container is opened, the entire contents should be used within hours or, failing that, discarded.

Two drugstore chains, Walgreens and CVS, each accounted for more than two million wasted doses, and Walmart and Rite Aide, more than one million, NBC and AFP news agency reported.

According to earlier data provided by the CDC, between the start of the U.S. vaccination campaign in December 2020 and March 2021, only around 200,000 doses were wasted, while most of the 15 million vaccines were released between June and August. .

This figure represents a small fraction of the 444 million doses distributed in the country since December, of which 371 million have already been effectively applied.

However, the inequality in the capacities of different countries to acquire vaccines does not appear to be resolved, and several of them have so far been able to immunize only a small part of their population, as is the case in many African countries.

“It’s a matter of fairness,” Tim Doran, professor of public health at New York University, told NBC. And I add: “There are some very wealthy countries that have access to vaccines and just throw away doses.”

The United States announced in early August that it had shipped 110 million doses to foreign countries and began distributing part of the 500 million doses of Pfizer promised to low-income countries at the end of August.