Illinois public health officials said that on February 10, 526 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have so far been wasted across the state. That is less than 1 percent of all vaccines administered across the state.
Sometimes the residue is caused by a broken vial or syringe. In other cases, vaccines were prepared, but not administered, or the vials were opened and they were unable to administer all the contained doses.
Although only a small percentage of doses administered in Illinois have ended up in the trash, public health experts have warned that without careful planning, delays and more potentially wasted vaccines can hamper the operation.
“No vaccine should be missed,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association. “Often, when the dose is missed, it’s because we don’t plan it effectively enough.”
He recommends that as soon as the supply is available, employees should increase the vaccine distribution for a 24-7 operation like a drive-thru fast food restaurant, especially to help essential workers who may not be able to take time off to get the vaccine during the day. The Chicago native asked public health officials to make sure systems are available so people can take extra doses, so they don’t end up lost.
“Every missed dose is a dose that can save someone’s life,” said Benjamin. He said that even if some doses end up in the trash, this is a concern. “They are two people who did not receive the first dose or the second dose and, at the end of the day, it can save their lives.”
The I-Team data investigation has revealed minimal waste so far across the region, from less than 200 missed doses in Chicago to two missed doses in Kane County due to a needle malfunction. DuPage County reports fewer than 57 missed doses. So far, not a single dose has been missed in Kendall County. In all, less than one hundredth of one percent of all doses across the state have been discarded.
In the northern suburb of Lake County, public health officials have started a mass vaccination site on the county fairgrounds, where 600 people are vaccinated daily. So far, Lake County officials have said that 67 doses have gone to waste across the county; less than 1 percent of the total they received. They said they maintain a “hot list” of eligible people nearby who want the vaccine to reduce waste at the end of the day.
“Handling the vaccine is a big challenge,” said Mark Pfister, executive director of the Lake County Department of Health. “The last thing we want is for any vaccine to be wasted. At the end of the day, as it is such a fragile resource, but also a limited resource.”
In DuPage County, a new mass vaccination site for fairs has been designed to help increase vaccine delivery. County officials tell I-Team that they maintain a waiting list of vaccine candidates to minimize waste and hope that more doses will be available soon to help frustrated residents looking for the few appointments.
“We have a lot of procedures in place to ensure that we monitor inventory so that we don’t end up in a position where you have extra doses,” said Chris Hoff, Director of Community Health at DuPage’s Department of Health. “Because each dose is a dose that can go to someone’s arm.”
Neither Will County nor Cook County officials responded to I-Team’s requests for information about their vaccine residue data. Robert Davies, Emergency Response Coordinator for the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, said his Modern batches have zero liquid waste and have actually had 88 more doses than they expected. County employees are unable to calculate the net waste of their Pfizer distribution at this time. Sangamon County officials said only one dose was missed there because a needle broke in the last dose in a vial.
The Illinois Department of Public Health data analyzed by the I-Team shows that, as of February 15, state officials administered 73.7 percent of the vaccine doses that Illinois allocated. Northwestern University Transportation Center director and logistics expert Hani Mahmassani said the state’s relatively slow deployment is part of the reason for the apparent minimal waste so far. He added that the situation could change as the distribution expands to more sites.
“This, of course, will help to increase the rate at which we are vaccinating people, using the product, but on the other hand, it also decreases the control of waste,” said Mahmassani. So far, this has not been at least a visible story of waste, but of inefficiency. “
“This has been somewhat complicated, you know, it’s not what you would like. Part of it has to do, I think, just with a situation and, frankly, with a distribution system that didn’t really exist in this country,” said Dr. Archana Chatterjee, Dean of Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University
Public health experts said that without this national distribution plan, states and local jurisdictions are having to act alone, with varying success. Experts emphasized that while 526 vaccine bottles in the trash are a fraction of what state officials received, this represents 526 loved ones, neighbors or friends who have not yet been inoculated. There are 526 people who can continue fighting just to get an appointment.
I-Team filed for Freedom of Information Act requests from state and Chicago officials, seeking answers on how each state jurisdiction is managing and tracking waste. They will continue to update the story as they learn more about how this vital resource is being tracked.
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