As interest in COVID-19 vaccines waned, thousands of doses went to waste in Missouri
Missouri vaccine providers have thrown away more than 81,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccinations, according to data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The reasons vary. Initially, vaccines tended to go to waste as a result of handling issues, broken syringes or vials that ended up with unused doses at the end of the day.
In recent weeks, some providers said that a drop-off in people looking to get vaccinated resulted in doses that expired or couldn’t be used after they thawed too long in anticipation of demand for shots that didn’t materialize.
Missouri has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. Only 52.4% of Missouri adults are fully vaccinated, according to a database kept by The New York Times. Only 12 other states have a lower rate; Kansas’ rate is 57.7%.
After an initial rush by people interested in receiving vaccinations, Missouri and other Midwestern states saw their vaccination numbers stall over the summer. Missouri is now offering cash bonuses as an inducement for people to get a vaccine.
The Star asked for data on vaccine wastage through a Missouri Sunshine Law request after reports in March that some mass vaccination sites across Missouri, particularly in rural areas, did not draw enough interest compared to the supply of vaccine doses received. The data and interviews show that as the summer went on and interest in getting vaccines waned, providers had to get rid of expired and thawed doses.
The Platte County Health Department had to toss 732 vaccine doses on May 27.
Aaron Smullin, a spokesman for the department, said the Pfizer vaccines were pulled from freezer storage and moved into refrigeration in anticipation that they could be put into people’s arms at a mass vaccination event. Pfizer vaccines require deep freezing until they’re thawed so they can be injected. Once they’re thawed, they have only a few days to be administered.
“However, as time went on, we saw the number of those wanting to get vaccinated decrease dramatically and were unable to use up the tray of vaccines and had to waste excess doses,” Smullin said. “The vaccines don’t contain any sort of preservatives and therefore have a short shelf life.”
Independence has had about 1,000 doses go unused. A spokesperson said improper mixing and extra doses remaining at the end of vaccination events are partly to blame.
“[H]owever, as has been reported, vaccination rates fell drastically in late spring and early summer and many local departments were left with vaccine that was set to expire in the summer,” said Meg Lewis, the city spokesperson.
Lewis said Independence has averaged 50 vaccinations a week since June. She added that there are signs of renewed interest in getting vaccinations; the week of Aug. 2 saw 230 vaccinations administered by the Independence Health Department.
The department has administered 19,700 doses since March, which shows that wasted doses make up a small percentage of the overall amount of vaccinations the city has received.
Indeed, Missouri has gotten 6.7 million COVID-19 doses, meaning that wasted doses represent little more than 1% of the vaccines the state has received.
The provider with the largest amount of wasted vaccines is Visionary Vaccine and Health Services in St. Charles. DHSS data shows that the clinic reported 3,080 wasted vaccines as of June 16.
Kevin Huss, the clinic’s director of operations, said a drop-off in interest to receive vaccines was partly to blame for the clinic’s wastage.
Huss said the clinic took in about 4,000 patients a day earlier in the year when the vaccination rollout began.
“And today, we’re seeing on a good day, 25 people,” he said.
Huss said the drop-off in traffic to the St. Charles clinic, which coincided with the lifting of mask mandates, resulted in a large number of thawed vaccines that could not be re-frozen and had to be thrown away.
In some cases, vaccines went to waste because of handling errors.
At Home Care, a home care agency in St. Louis, wasted 1,130 Pfizer doses on July 2.
Brandy Brown, an executive assistant, said the agency received a shipment of Pfizer vaccine before it had the refrigeration devices necessary to keep the vials frozen at ultra-low temperatures.
Brown said the agency didn’t have enough dry ice in the meantime to keep the vials frozen.
“I would say it was an accident,” Brown said.
DHSS data show that on April 4 Bothwell Regional Health Center in Sedalia wasted 1,170 Pfizer doses. A DHSS spokesperson said the hospital was not at fault because those doses were not kept at proper temperatures when they were brought to the Sedalia facility.
That loss of vaccine in transit to the Bothwell hospital occurred early on in Missouri’s vaccination program when eligibility to receive the shot was restricted and the availability of doses was limited.
DHSS data show that from December 2020 until April 7, the date when all adults became eligible to receive a shot, health departments, hospitals and private providers wasted about 4,000 vaccine doses.
The early months of Missouri’s vaccination program resulted in frustration, particularly in Kansas City and St. Louis, that access to vaccines was more readily available in rural areas, where the state staged mass vaccination events. There were reports of “vaccine tourists,” people from Missouri’s largest cities traveling long distances to seek out available vaccines.
The mass vaccination events were criticized for at times having far more supply of vaccines than those interested in getting a jab.
The Missouri Department of Public Safety, which coordinated mass vaccination sites, at the time tamped down suggestions that unused doses at those sites were discarded. The department produced data that showed most doses from mass vaccination sites were recirculated to other areas and very few went to waste.
But the DHSS data showed that doses from several individual providers went to waste.
The reasons varied. DHSS data reported that the Henry County Health Department discarded 95 vaccine doses on March 2 because vaccines were drawn into syringes but never administered. Other health departments reported that vaccines were thrown away because vials were opened but not all doses were administered, or that vials and syringes were broken.
