Tens of millions of COVID-19 shots being thrown away as demand drops

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Amid declining demand, tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccines are being discarded by drugmakers, governments, and vaccination sites, a sharp contrast from the early days of the immunization drive when shots were in short supply.

According to The Wall Street Journal, vaccine maker Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) recently threw away about 30M doses of its messenger RNA-based shot as procurements dropped amid the waning impact of the pandemic.

“We are now throwing doses in the garbage,” Moderna (MRNA) Chief Executive Stephane Bancel said in May at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “It’s sad to say.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 90.6M COVID-19 vaccine doses have gone to waste in the U.S. That is about 11.9% of the more than 762M vaccine doses delivered since the vaccination drive began in late 2020.

The disposals have risen recently, with 12M doses discarded since late May even as younger children in the U.S. became eligible for COVID-19 vaccines. In June, the regulators cleared COVID-19 shots for kids as young as six months.

The U.S. is not the only country facing the issue. Germany deposed about 3.9M COVID-19 vaccine doses that expired at the end of last month.

Canada has thrown out 1.2M expired doses of the Moderna (MRNA) vaccine, and the country plans to discard about 13.6M doses of AstraZeneca (AZN) COVID-19 vaccine, according to the government health department.

Health experts cite vaccine packaging as another reason for wastage. The multi-dose vials containing five – 20 doses should be used within about 12 hours once opened, or the remaining doses should be discarded if there are not enough recipients.

Pfizer (PFE), which introduced the first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with BioNTech (BNTX), is planning to develop a single-dose vial.

Even as the demand for first-generation COVID-19 vaccines drops, regulators in the U.S. and Europe have advised drugmakers to develop modified COVID-19 shots in anticipation of booster campaigns in the fall.

Comments

[lshiang]

What a waste to throw away tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccines!

[darnoc111]

Good medical info on the vaccine --- https://live.aflds.org/
It may only be available for tonight, but worth a try.

[fujilomi]

1.02 MILLION COVID deaths in the US alone, probably would have had MANY more deaths without the vaccines free to the public. Would have had less taxpayers to pay taxes. They should offer free booster to the booster shots instead of throwing them away, I would sign up. My ex wife, my son and his girlfriend all got COVID recently, probably from a variant but all got through ok with relatively minor effects like body aches probably due to booster shots. I had sneezing and a cough so probably had it, but didn't feel that sick probably due to the booster shot so didn't get tested. My son and his girlfriend had to get tested and retested to go back to work, COVID protocols still in place.

[khanjar24]

@fujilomi
This person wears masks while driving their car solo.

[darnoc111]

@fujilomi Here is some articles for you to think about what you wrote. I can get probably hundreds more showing how the vaccines failed.
"COVID Outbreak On US Cruise Ship Despite Fully Vaxxed Passengers"

www.zerohedge.com/...

"Mass vaccination fails to halt Covid transmission rates – study"

www.rt.com/...

"CDC Director Refuses To Tell Senators How Many CDC Employees Are Fully-Vaxx'd"

www.zerohedge.com/...

"Vaccines Do Not Stop COVID-19 Spread As Governments Claim: Legal Advocacy Group"

www.zerohedge.com/...

"Latest VAERS estimate: 388,000 Americans killed by the COVID vaccines" Dec 14, 2021

stevekirsch.substack.com/...

"Association Between Menstrual Cycle Length and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccination"

journals.lww.com/...

"Heart Inflammation More Prevalent Among Vaccinated Than Unvaccinated: Study"

www.theepochtimes.com/...

"According to standard narrative, clotting events after 'vaccination' with spike-protein factories not linked to shots"

americasfrontlinenews.com/...

"VAERS Summary for COVID-19 Vaccines through 6/24/2022"

vaersanalysis.info/...

As per VAERS through 6/24/2022 - 29,162 are dead from the vaccine and this actually represents between 1 and 10% of the actual number, meaning 291,620 to 2,916,200 dead from the vaccines. So you really did not save anyone with these bad vaccines.

[fujilomi]

@darnoc111 I am old so remember when polio was a big problem before vaccines. Along with measles and smallpox. Measles is on the rise again because of anti vaxers, poor kids may have to suffer because of parents' beliefs. Believe what you like and suffer the consequences. My son's friend caught COVID before vaccines were available and is STILL experiencing lingering problems. Don't be like the rich steakhouse owner who committed suicide due to severe tinnitus after a COVID infection with an airplane constantly roaring in his ears. Death might not be the worse case scenario.

[sosonis]

And yet the administration commits to buy hundreds of millions more doses, at 50% higher price. I guess the US tax payer (and not only, this grifting operation is happening all over the western world) is working for PFE, MRNA shareholders.

[Fundflow]

@sosonis H/e, vaccines are also being donated around the world for free. But I get your point. I got all my shots for free via my Health Network or CVS. Buy PFE or MRK if you want some of the COVID shot pie. See the post by Marrk below.

[Jon Brien]

This is an ongoing War you know. Look at the armament surpluses the US had after WW2.

[Marrk]

Cases are on the rise in my city. Everybody had their maskless, vaccine-less July 4th pool party. Now, the bill comes due. May be going back to indoor mask mandates the month. Wouldn't be surprised if winter flu season was be very bad in 2022-2023.

Long PFE, MRK, JNJ

[darnoc111]

@Marrk Masks do not work nor does the vaccines.

[Jeff B ME]

@darnoc111 Yeah, masks do work, just not the way the nay-sayers wear them... otherwise all the hospitals and staff would be taken down from just a few positive cases...

[darnoc111]

@Jeff B ME Really? You mean a half micron virus cannot penetrate a 200 micron mask?

[Sgt_Pepper4]

When you can't even give it away free to the user, it's over. Give up. The shots did nothing and Biden is a failure in this issue and all issues. Unfortunately, here comes the financial pain from it all.

[Jeff B ME]

@Sgt_Pepper4 Biden, Biden, Biden... care to offer up just one name of who you are so sure would not be a failure in all issues??? Take your time, I'll wait...

[Mason A]

Surprise, nobody wants a vaccine for a strain that hasn't existed for two years.

[darnoc111]

People are not stupid they can see the results of the vaccines and they are not good. Biden owns this as he tried to force this garbage on people. Looks like even propaganda and censorship by him failed.

[HavingFunToday]

At this point the government should stop footing the bill using our tax payer dollars to buy and waste these shots and just put the cost directly on whoever is wanting to continue to get one. I think at this point everyone has either gotten a shot or covid or had both.

[CS15]

And yet the government keeps buying more. What a scam.

seekingalpha.com/...

[Weather Man]

Covid is mutating faster than they can invent new variation names and is doing a fine job boosting herd immunity all on its own. The Feds keep pretending natural immunity doesn't exist.

[goodfellasfinancial]

@Weather Man follow the approved science

[Rearden Steel 2112]

@Weather Man The TV box said that all real scientists say that natural immunity has been debunked.

[Weather Man]

@Rearden Steel 2112 The same scientist invented a new term Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.

[Bearer of Bad Tidings]

This is basically a non-issue, at least for the manufacturers. Virtually all the vaccines were paid for in advance by government. This is not all that different from the more recent Paxlovid, which costs the government about $500 per course, yet faces underwhelming demand despite being offered at no cost to the patient.

I will leave for the reader to draw his own conclusions as to why the public would be reluctant to try medical products that in nearly all cases have been offered to them free of charge.

[goodfellasfinancial]

@Bearer of Bad Tidings pump and dump from Congress "spouses "

[Jim_Berger]

Oh nooooo, seriously? But why? The efficacy is so high, it protects from infecting others, protects myself for 2 years (at least), zero side effects, I really cannot understand it.

[Joe de Mencia]

@Jim_Berger " it protects from infecting others"

nope

"The efficacy is so high"

for a few days/weeks tops

"zero side effects"

nope again

"I really cannot understand it."

neither can i if your post is satire or not.

[Jim_Berger]

@Joe de Mencia Seriously? Oh my god... and this after my 26th shot... strong tobac for the weekend 🤣
(yeah, its ironic, you got it)

[Joe de Mencia]

@Jim_Berger it's hard to tell if one being sarcastic, given this post could've been posted by any one of our local libs and been 150% serious.

[kmi]

And sometimes the Biden admin just makes bonfires out of cash for parties too.

In March the Biden admin requested an additional $22.5B for vaccines and tests. Congressional negotiators dropped it to $15.6B, but when "Republicans objected to spending new money on the coronavirus response without first using unspent funding from existing aid programs" Pelosi dropped it - a clear indication the money was being appropriated today to be spent elsewhere tomorrow.

A great summary appears in a NYPost article nypost.com/...

" In January, the Government Accountability Office reported that only 87% of the total was obligated — legally committing the US government to pay — and only 76% was spent.
Contrary to what most Americans probably believe, little of the total was allocated for COVID vaccines, treatments and testing. Only 11% ($484 billion) was routed to the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency most directly involved with responding to public-health emergencies. By the end of November, HHS had only obligated 80% and spent 47% of its funds."

Much more at the linked article.

The Biden admin claimed in May it needed money because of a coming new winter surge. abcnews.go.com/... Just another underhanded effort to legislate the money today for 'reprogramming' towards Biden ideological purposes later and no honest intent of using it for covid.

That's how the Dems do it, they pass bills that are politically popular - like with "Infrastructure" - but they don't do any of the stated purposes - like with the "Infrastructure Bill". An unfunded $1.2T bill where the Biden admin has JUST allocated a measly $1B to airports. Ask yourself just what are they doing with the rest of the money?? If you answered 'shenanigans' you'd be right.

[kmi]

@kmi

And just to make the point clearer: tax increases of any kind for any stated purpose should always be an absolute "no" every time because this is how the "government" spends our money.

[Boiler78]

@kmi interesting! I have wondered why the government keeps buying in volumes to address our entire population rather than turning it over to insurance companies (private and government) now that most are fully approved. Medicare would handle the elderly and Medicaid the poor. The rest use their health insurance to access. Same as any other drug. Perhaps the Feds procure a small amount for anyone falling through the cracks. Far more cost effective in the long run. Frankly; I’m surprised only 12% has been discarded.

There is a specific data set necessary to support a single dose vial or prefilled syringe. That said; the drug companies should have already begun that work and FDA should insist they submit the data for approval asap or demonstrate valid reason (s) they aren’t currently able to do so.

[ILIVETHERE]

"Pfizer (PFE), which introduced the first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with BioNTech (BNTX), is planning to develop a single-dose vial."

Wow, I hope they have all their scientists working on this difficult concept. You can imagine how keen PFE is to reduce wastage and reduce their sales.

[BWAHAHAHAHAHA]

Duh.

[rtforme]

The author needs do his/her/its research and come to grips with the fact this was not an approved vaccine rather it was a jab, which came Pfizer came out and said, so please stop pushing that this was a vaccine, now the FDA won't even put the future so called vaccines through trials, they will just whip up a batch of ingredients label it approved and start killing more people...........seriously how many people are going to get the real truth. Just goes to show how many people have their heads stuck up their butts!

[dandroidz]

Typical govt waste via crony "capitalism". They only thing the govt can do is inefficiently destroy markets/economies via bad policy/regulations, and burn tax revenue on horrible policy as with stockpiling limited shelf life vaccines on a 99.8% survivable flu.

[Jim_Berger]

@dandroidz may I add the useless central bank policies? Just to complete your statement 😉
long live the government, long live the planned economy my friend (any news on the FED? you know, they are the only ones deciding where markets go 😘)

[Bearer of Bad Tidings]

@dandroidz
Pretty good estimate. My figure from early 2021 was about 99.85%. I suspect the survival rate is even higher with the milder strains since then, as well as the tendency that earlier waves cull the most vulnerable.

Your other comment is much more relevant investment wise: All medications have limited shelf life. The mRNA jabs especially so. Recall how at least when first released, they required storage in a deep freeze? As for stockpiling, that is just one aspect of mass vaccination programs. It's hardly unique to the Covid-19 vaxxes. Perhaps I'm over-simplifying, but in most nations it's the government(s) that pay for the vaccine doses. The public basically gets them at no direct cost. Logistics requires that big contracts be signed, millions of doses ordered and be stockpiled.

So, the vaccine business will continue as it has existed for years. Or will it? On the optimist side, a case can be made that the ability to rapidly develop new "vaccines" will make it easier to produce new products, to react to changing needs, to meet the latest virus or other disease threat. Ah, but we must consider the pessimist case. Given the skullduggery of the past three years, the clear jettisoning of traditional standards of medical testing, safety and ethics, the complete absence of proof of long-term safety or even efficacy of the "vaccines," all in the name of emergency (and usually unstated, in the pursuit of profits and power) how much of the public trust remains for taking future vaccines even at zero cost, remains to be seen.

[dandroidz]

@Jim_Berger Well the issue is the Central Banks arent part of the Govt, they are illegal private cartels. So they arent really part of Govt policy unfortunately, case and point, back door $5T bailouts with no oversight from Congress or We the People.

[StandingWatch]

Rewritten:

"American Tax Dollars Pissed Away as Recession Fueled by Irrational Flu Fears Rages Forward"