CVS, Walgreens Wasted More Vaccine Than Many States
By Joshua Eaton and Rachana Pradhan
Monday, May 03, 2021 (Kaiser News) Two national pharmacy chains that the federal government entrusted to inoculate people against covid-19 account for the lion’s share of wasted vaccine doses, according to government data obtained by KHN.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 182,874 wasted doses as of late March, three months into the country’s effort to vaccinate the masses against the coronavirus. Of those, CVS was responsible for nearly half, and Walgreens for 21%, or nearly 128,500 wasted shots combined.
CDC data suggests that the companies have wasted more doses than states, U.S. territories and federal agencies combined. Pfizer’s vaccine, which in December was the first to be deployed and initially required storage at ultracold temperatures, represented nearly 60% of tossed doses.
CVS, Walgreens waste more COVID vaccine than most states combined, data shows
COVID-19 vaccines readily available across the nation
Replay Video Two national pharmacy chains that the federal government entrusted to inoculate people against COVID-19 account for the lion’s share of wasted vaccine doses, according to government data obtained by KHN. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 182,874 wasted doses as of late March, three months into the country’s effort to vaccinate the masses against the coronavirus. Of those, CVS was responsible for nearly half, and Walgreens for 21%, or nearly 128,500 wasted shots combined. CDC data suggests that the companies have wasted more doses than states, U.S. territories and federal agencies combined. Pfizer’s vaccine, which in December was the first to be deployed and initially required storage at ultracold temperatures, represented nearly 60% of tossed doses.
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Pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS have wasted thousands of COVID-19 vaccines according to a report from Kaiser Health News (KHN) published on Monday citing which cites government data it has obtained.
KHN reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded 182,874 wasted doses in late March, with CVS responsible for about half of those unused doses. Walgreens was responsible for about 21 percent of the overall wasted doses. In total, the two pharmacy chains wasted around 128,500 coronavirus vaccine shots, according to the data.
Of the wasted vaccines, those produced by Pfizer account for about 60 percent.
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This data indicates that the two pharmacy retailers have wasted more shots than all U.S. states, territories and federal agencies combined, KHN reports.
CDC spokesperson Kate Fowlie told NBC News that a higher percentage of the overall wastage would not be unexpected because the pharmacy chains were given a much larger amount of doses.
Walgreens said wasted doses amounted to less than 0.5 percent of the more than 8 million COVID vaccine doses administered by the company in long-term care facilities and through a federal partnership during that time frame. Our goal has always been ensuring every dose of vaccine is used, company spokesperson Kris Lathan told NBC News in an email.
CVS spokesperson Michael DeAngelis told NBC News wasted doses were largely due to issues with transportation restrictions, limitations on redirecting unused doses, and other factors. He said the waste was limited to one dose per onsite vaccination clinic, according to the report.