The state has wasted more than 1,200 doses of the coronavirus vaccine, a fraction of the nearly 1 million doses that have been sent to Massachusetts so far, according to public health officials.
“On 2/5: a total of 1,096 doses of Moderna and 176 doses of Pfizer were reported as wasted or 1,272 doses in total,” said Ann Scales, spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Health, by email. “Of the 960,100 doses sent to date, this represents a percentage of vaccine loss of 0.13%.”
Missed doses were previously reported by the Boston Herald.
The figure provided by DPH does not include the nearly 2,000 doses of the Modern COVID-19 vaccine that were spoiled last month at Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center when a cleaning company accidentally released a freezer.
The state DPH does not track the doses that the federal government provides directly to the VA.
DPH said on Tuesday that a total of 696,051 first doses of the coronavirus vaccines were administered in Massachusetts, along with 214,361 second doses.
The total of 910,412 doses administered is equivalent to 70.9 percent of the 1,283,700 doses sent to providers in the state so far, the department said in a new daily vaccination report.
Massachusetts is in the midst of a campaign to vaccinate millions of people in an effort to end a pandemic that has sickened hundreds of thousands and caused nearly 15,000 deaths in the state. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, the only vaccines authorized to date, are both two-dose vaccines.
The state’s second wave appears to be slowing. Cases, hospitalizations and other metrics are falling. But public officials are concerned about a possible return of the virus due to new variants of the coronavirus and are asking people to continue taking precautions and getting vaccinated when their turn comes.
Material from previous Globe stories was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.