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Fortune struck a man in the aisle of the supermarket bakery. Two others worked nights at a Subway sandwich shop. Yet another was selected from a list of 15,000 prospects.
As millions of Americans wait for their chance to get their coronavirus shot, the lucky few come to the fore as clinics scramble to dispose of extra perishable doses at the end of the day.
It’s often about being in the right place at the right time.
Sometimes people who are right near a clinic at closing time are offered leftover injections that would otherwise be thrown away. Sometimes health workers go looking for beneficiaries. Some places have waiting lists and draw names at random. These opportunities may become increasingly popular as shortages in the United States lead some places to cancel vaccinations.
“One of the nurses said I should go buy a lottery ticket right now,” Jesse Robinson said outside a clinic in Nashville, Tennessee this week where the 22-year-old was chosen from. a list of 15,000 names for a shot. “I’m not going to question it too much. I’m just glad it’s me.
David MacMillan was mistaking ingredients for a dish of coconut chickpeas at a Giant grocery store in Washington when a woman in a lab coat from the store pharmacy came over to him and his friend.
“I received two doses of the Moderna vaccine. The pharmacy closes in 10 minutes. Do you want them? “MacMillan, 31, remembers the woman saying,” I was like ‘Let’s go.’
After MacMillan posted a video of his experience on TikTok, the supermarket chain was inundated for days with calls and people hanging out hoping to score a hit.
It has become one of the more unusual quirks in the often irregular and month-long rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.
Once a vial is thawed after freezing and, more importantly, once its seal is pierced and the first dose taken, those administering the vaccine are in a race to use it before it runs out. spoils – even if that means giving injections to those who don’t fit on the priority list.
While it can be disturbing to see a 20-year-old getting the vaccine while a 90-year-old woman in a nursing home still waits, public health experts say giving a dose in someone’s arm , anyone’s arm, better than to throw it away. .
“As far as I’m concerned, get anyone but the dog vaccinated,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University.
In New York City, a rumor that the Brooklyn Army Terminal had extra doses sparked a scramble for the vaccine distribution site, resulting in bumper traffic on the streets and a line of hundreds of people on the streets. sidewalks until the police came to say they had been. fooled.
Mike Schotte, 53, and his 72-year-old mother began coming to pharmacies near their home in Hurst, Texas, hoping to get the shot. Eventually they put their name on a waiting list and got a call saying photos might be available if they arrived in half an hour.
“We didn’t have to speed up, but it was pretty close,” said Schotte. “I’m glad I got it.”
Nashville launched its lottery system to avoid more random ways of dealing out the remaining strokes. In one case last month, the city’s health department ended up giving extra doses to two workers at a Subway restaurant at a nearby hospital so they didn’t get lost.
Vaccination clinics only wait for a few remaining doses, at most, on any given day. The providers also note that the chances of the remaining vaccines becoming available to the general public diminish every week, as vaccine eligibility extends beyond very old nursing home residents and frontline medical workers.
Waste is common in global immunization campaigns, with millions of doses of influenza vaccine thrown away each year. According to an estimate from the World Health Organization, more than half of all vaccines are thrown away because they have been mismanaged, unclaimed or expired. The deployment of the coronavirus appears to have turned the tide.
Although federal data is not available, health authorities in various jurisdictions contacted by The Associated Press have reported very little waste beyond a few notable cases of doses that have been accidentally or deliberately spoiled.
In Cook County in Chicago, Ill., The health department reported that only three of 87,750 doses were wasted, each accidentally spilled by staff. In Ohio, officials said 165 of the 459,000 doses distributed last week were damaged or lost in transit, thrown away due to no-show vaccines, or otherwise wasted. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Houston and other cities and states have also reported tiny fractions of waste.
“It’s like gold in Fort Knox,” said Dr Ramon Tallaj, whose SOMOS network of doctors administered the vaccine in New York.
Those who distribute the vaccines choreograph an intricate dance to make sure they are treated well. Pfizer vaccine vials contain five doses – and sometimes an additional one – and Moderna’s contain 10. And clinics do their best not to open a new container unless a registered recipient is inoculated.
At a clinic on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, Jill Price said as the end of the day nears, if it looks like there will be any doses left, calls are being made to those registered for vaccinations on next day to see if they can get in. right now.
“It’s such a precious commodity that no one wants to waste it,” Price said.
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Associated Press writer Kristin M. Hall contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.
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