Headline Roundup • September 1st, 2021
At Least 15.1 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Wasted Since March
Summary from the AllSides News Team
At least 15.1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been thrown away in the United States since March 1, according to government data received by NBC News through a public records request. According to the CDC, the national pharmacy chains that have self-reported the highest amount of wasted doses are Walgreens (2.6 million), CVS (2.3 million), Walmart (1.6 million) and Rite Aid (1.1 million). The number of reported discarded COVID-19 vaccine doses might be an undercount as the data does not include some states and federal agencies. However, as of Wednesday, approximately 443.7 million doses have been distributed in the U.S. — meaning that less than 3.5% of total doses have been wasted.
The report was predominantly covered by left-rated and center-rated outlets. Left-rated outlets were more likely to highlight the wasted doses as "an equity issue" as many countries around the globe are still awaiting more vaccines.
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Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images file
Pharmacies and state governments in the United States have thrown away at least 15.1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines since March 1, according to government data obtained by NBC News — a far larger number than previously known and still probably an undercount.
Four national pharmacy chains reported more than 1 million wasted doses each, according to data released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in response to a public records request. Walgreens reported the most waste of any pharmacy, state or other vaccine provider, with nearly 2.6 million...
Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
More than 15 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been thrown away or wasted since March, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data received by NBC News through a public records request.
The 15.1 million wasted doses might even be an undercount, according to the report.
"It's really tragic that we have a situation where vaccines are being wasted while lots of African countries have not had even 5% of their populations vaccinated," England's University of Warwick professor Sharifah Sekalala told NBC News.
"A lot of the global south is...
Getty Images
At least 15 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in the U.S. have gone to waste, with the number of unused doses rising, according to NBC News.
Citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), NBC reported that four major national pharmacy chains have each reported wasting at least 1 million COVID-19 vaccine shots each.
According to the self-reported numbers, Walgreens reported wasting 2.6 million doses, CVS reported 2.2 million, Walmart reported 1.6 million and Rite Aid reported 1.1 million.
NBC notes that the data provided by the CDC does not...
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