In the U.S., millions of COVID-19 shots set to go to waste as vaccine rollout slows

Millions of COVID-19 shots set to go to waste, as vaccine rollout slows ABC News found that millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses have either gone to waste, remain unused, or will expire in the coming weeks and months. ABC News ABC News

While top U.S. health officials are urging some Americans to get yet another coronavirus booster shot, local health departments across the country are grappling with a growing dilemma -- how to address a declining demand for vaccines, while minimizing the waste of unused millions of doses currently in state stockpiles and at risk of expiring.

Since the emergency use authorization of the first COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. last winter, federal data shows that states received a staggering 720 million doses, and more than 570 million of those shots have been administered.

However, an ABC News analysis of state-provided data found that millions of those shots have not ended up in arms, largely due to a significant decline in the number of individuals willing to get vaccinated — with many vaccine doses now left unused in refrigerators or discarded in trash cans across the country.

ABC News contacted officials from health departments in all 50 states, and in analyzing state provided data, found that millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses have either gone to waste, remain unused, or will expire in the coming weeks and months.

"It is a tremendous loss of opportunity for these vaccines to not make it into the shoulders of those who need them," C. Buddy Creech, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program and associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases, told ABC News. "Not only is it a financial loss for the purchaser of vaccines -- the U.S. government -- but also a significant health loss for those who are not yet protected from COVID and its complications."

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