A number of news sites are running with the narrative today that CVS and Walgreens have “wasted” what sounds like a problematic number of COVID-19 vaccines:
CVS and Walgreens wasted thousands of COVID-19 vaccines, more shots than most U.S. states, territories and federal agencies combined: report https://t.co/3lUmz5TfF5 pic.twitter.com/fKD4hlkODI
— The Hill (@thehill) May 4, 2021
Of all the “wasted” doses tracked by the CDC, 70% of them are from CVS and Walgreens:
CVS and Walgreens accounted for 70% of the wasted vaccine doses in the U.S., according to CDC data.https://t.co/kRUHa9xM5P
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) May 4, 2021
In total, over 180,000 vaccines were “wasted” which the Daily Beast called due to “poor planning”:
The CDC says 182,874 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been wasted due to poor planning of the vaccine rollout https://t.co/VihrcyQu2U
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) May 3, 2021
But do these people not understand how numerators and denominators work? According to The Hill, 140,000,000 million doses have been administered:
However, KHN notes that the overall amount of wasted vaccines is minimal when compared to the nearly 190 million that have been delivered and the 148 million that have been administered in the U.S.
182,000 “wasted” doses divided by 148,000,000 doses administered is 0.00122972972, or .12%:
learn how numerators and denominators work ffs.
182,000 wasted doses total
148,000,000 million administered
If someone said the percentage of wasted doses would only be whatever tiny number this is, EVERYONE would have cheered it. https://t.co/dqy0mfYFwg— Greg Pollowitz (@GPollowitz) May 5, 2021
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Oh, but it gets worse:
What is the point of this stupid article? pic.twitter.com/30Ygj0KhWG
— The H2 (@TheH2) May 5, 2021
The expert quoted in The Hill article actually said that this number is “minimal” and we’re talking about 1 dose per vaccine site:
“Despite the inherent challenges, our teams were able to limit waste to approximately one dose per onsite vaccination clinic,” DeAngelis added.
A spokesperson for Walgreens, Kris Lathan, told the outlet, “Our goal has always been ensuring every dose of vaccine is used.”
However, KHN notes that the overall amount of wasted vaccines is minimal when compared to the nearly 190 million that have been delivered and the 148 million that have been administered in the U.S.
And it’s not even clear that we’re using the term “wasted” in the correct way as there are valid reason to throw to dose out that have nothing to do with incompetence:
Kate Fowlie of the CDC told KHN that because CVS and Walgreens were tasked with administering so many doses, “a higher percentage of the overall wastage would not be unexpected, particularly in an early vaccination effort that spanned thousands of locations.”
“Though every effort is made to reduce the volume of wastage in a vaccination program, sometimes it’s necessary to identify doses as ‘waste’ to ensure anyone wanting a vaccine can receive it, as well as to ensure patient safety and vaccine effectiveness,” Fowlie added.
In other words, the distribution has been an incredible success yet it’s being painted here as failing. And that’s exactly how people are interpreting it:
BREAKING: CVS and Walgreens dumpster rats have reached herd immunity https://t.co/8CIjkKUVBG
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) May 4, 2021
This makes me angry. The private pharmacies set up stressful signup systems that increased inequality, required people to give them tons of personal data and sign up for customer accounts, and still wasted tons of doses. https://t.co/0ZA1YMxRPn
— Maggie Koerth (@maggiekb1) May 4, 2021
Wonder what @Publix record on this is?🤔
See how privatizing everything my NOT be the best idea? https://t.co/Si9Gy8cjQB
— Pam Keith, Esq. (@PamKeithFL) May 4, 2021
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