COVID-19 vaccine wastage data from the CDC • Hacker News Board

Re: COVID-19 vaccine wastage data from the CDC

#21

Post by the8472 » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 2:27 PM UTC

tzs wrote: post #14

aqme28 wrote: post #12

Wastage is bad obviously, but 3% is pretty good. I've heard it's at or below the wastage for similar drugs.

That's for the country as a whole, though. I'd expect it to vary quite a bit from state to state. In some of the low vaccination rate/high COVID rate states there were pharmacies having almost their entire allotment expire due to low demand. It will be interesting to see the geographic distribution when the site gets this part done: > I’m working on mapping all retail pharmacy locations to waste over time

> That's for the country as a whole, though.

That caveat doesn't seem particularly important. The worst case is that 97% of all vaccination sites are perfectly efficient and 3% of them just dump all their allocated vaccines into the trash. Being within 3% of the lower bound doesn't leave much wiggle room.

Re: COVID-19 vaccine wastage data from the CDC

#22

Post by belltaco » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 3:45 PM UTC

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #7

refurb wrote: post #2

Yup. Manufacturers will need to move to single dose vials pretty soon. I was talking to pharmacists that reconstitute a 10 dose vial to vaccinate someone and have to toss the other 9 doses as they go bad. 11M wasted doses is frightening. That would vaccinate the entire population of New Zealand.

But do remember, I’m sure New Zealand would also end up wasting a decent number of doses in the process of vaccinating their population. Making things convenient often requires using resources less efficiently, and we can’t get everyone vaccinated unless getting vaccinated is convenient.

By April/May in the US getting vaccines was very convenient and there was barely any wastage. The wastage is because we are trying to make it convenient for the antivaxxers to get it hoping that they'd change their mind, rather than help other countries.

Re: COVID-19 vaccine wastage data from the CDC

#23

Post by antisthenes » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 9:36 PM UTC

I'm not surprised Walgreens is at the top by wastage.

They have some of the most horrible bureaucracy when it came to vaccine administration. Appointment times meant nothing and it took close to 10min/patient to progress in the line.

For my 2nd dose, their system broke down entirely and rather than inform everyone in the line, they decided to run around like chickens with their heads cut off and then take a lunch break, keeping everyone wondering what's going on.