Tens of thousands of coronavirus vaccines have expired in Alabama while millions remain unvaccinated

The Alabama public health officer reported on Friday that tens of thousands of COVID-19 vaccines had been wasted despite millions of residents yet to receive their doses.

Scott Harris told a news conference that a whopping 65,511 doses had expired in Alabama.

“So far we’ve lost around 7,000 doses of J&J, around 11,000 doses of Moderna and 47,000 doses of Pfizer, and that’s because a lot of Pfizer expired at the end of July, so that number has increased a lot,” Harris said.

He said that although part of the shelf life of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had been extended by several weeks, he called the wasted vaccines “extremely unfortunate.”

“But 65,000 doses were wasted. It’s extremely unfortunate when we have such a low immunization rate, and of course there are so many people in the world who still don’t have access to vaccines, so it’s such a shame, ”said Harris.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, about 39% of Alabama’s population has been fully vaccinated, which represents about 1.7 million people.

Harris said 1.5 million doses were immediately available for Alabamans who wanted to be vaccinated, in stark contrast to countries like Thailand where residents are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to be vaccinated.

The public health officer said on Friday the state was concerned about the large number of unvaccinated residents as Alabama continues to see a wave of new cases of COVID-19. About 3,817 new cases were reported in the state on Wednesday, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In contrast, the new cases were a few hundred from mid-June to the end of June.

Governor of Alabama. Kay iveyKay Ivey The Memo: DeSantis-Biden Sniping Highlights COVID-19 Frustration Alabama AG Says Colleges Cannot Fine Unvaccinated Students Juan Williams: Social Media Giants Are Making Us All Fail on COVID PLUS (R) late last month said it was “time to start blaming the unvaccinated” for the high number of COVID-19 cases in the state.

Despite this, the state has also adopted protections for those who choose not to be vaccinated, exemplifying the awkward dance politicians have with businesses and individuals refusing to be vaccinated while seeing a wave of new cases. within their communities.