Our analysis of data from the Texas Department of State Health Services found that 350 of the wasted doses are in Harris County.
At the provincial level, Judge Lina Hidalgo of Harris County previously said 20 doses were lost “because two bottles fell and broke because a gust of wind passed and five (doses), there was simply no one to report it.”
READ ALSO: Houston Department of Health responds to concerns over second vaccine dose
The hundreds of wasted doses are just a small percentage of the total 3,160,000 vaccine doses Texas has received so far, but with thousands of residents on waiting lists to get a vaccine, doctors say the “precious commodity” should not go to waste not.
INTERACTIVE: 13 Examine maps of each supplier who have reported vaccine waste to the state. The larger points indicate more waste, based on the amount of vaccines each supplier sent. Explore the map below to see details on why the vaccines were wasted. On mobile device? Click here for a full screen experience.
Within 45 minutes of receiving the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine from the state in December, Dr. David Ellent, a physician at Genesis Medical Group, said doctors worked Christmas to administer it to staff who qualify for the first phase of the state’s vaccination plan.
“Every dose, which does not go to a health professional, goes to the patients or goes to a community member to make sure no single dose is wasted,” he said. “It’s a very precious commodity.”
The rules in the state vaccination plan are clear and mention the waste 11 times. When a dose is wasted, suppliers must report it to the state within 24 hours.
Each Moderna vaccine contains ten, or sometimes 11 doses, and should be used according to health guidelines within six hours of opening the vial.
The Pfizer vaccine must be stored at a certain temperature, and it must first be used and, according to the company, can not be frozen again.
Overall, 40% of the vaccine waste was due to the spoilage of the product and 20% was the result of the vaccine being stored at too hot a temperature, according to the data.
On a mobile device? Click here.
According to state data, 7.7% of the 1,751 vaccine doses was wasted at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center.
“During the Christmas holidays, the team thawed enough doses to give those who would be vaccinated to receive the vaccination; unfortunately, many people canceled, resulting in 135 doses not being administered during the week,” the hospital said. a statement said to 13 Investigators. “We, of course, deeply regret that any amount received has not been administered. We have given further instruction on the many processes put in place to ensure that this does not happen again. Overall, Memorial Hermann has more than 77,000 vaccinations and we are committed to ensuring that all vaccinations we receive are administered safely. ‘
A Clinicas Mi Doctor location on Broadway Street in Houston, according to Texas DSHS data, wasted the most doses with 230 vaccine doses that had to be discarded because they were not cool enough.
“On January 2, Clinicas Mi Doctor- # 23 in Broadway had a outage of equipment, leading to a temperature outage for 230 doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. The problem was resumed on Monday, January 4. The manufacture was contacted and a review determined that the vaccine would be wasted and unusable.Replacement doses were issued.Clinicas Mi Doctor is committed to the safe distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine and is taking steps to ensure that equipment is closely monitored be, “said one company. spokesman said in a statement to 13 Investigates.
We also looked at which suppliers reported the most waste based on the total dose received. According to our analysis, Austin orthopedic specialists are the highest percentage of waste, with 63 of the 100 doses it received as waste due to poor cooling, according to Texas DSHS data.
13 investigators reached out to Austin orthopedic specialists after we received the state DSHS from Texas late Friday afternoon, but the office was closed.
Lack of access
Esmaeil Porsa, CEO of Harris Health System, told 13 Investigates that the lack of access to the vaccine is now excessively affecting people through COVID-19,
LOOK: The vaccination should not be like ‘The Hunger Games’,’ says judge
The health system, which serves as a safety net for the province’s vulnerable and uninsured, said it had to cancel hundreds of vaccine appointments at seven locations across the country last week due to a lack of supply.
Porsa said Harris Health has a system in place to ensure each dose is used as soon as they receive it, but the stock is simply not available.
Porsa talked about the efforts the health system is making to avoid wastage, and remembers a recent day that was used to administer vaccines. After the end of that long day, he said they realized they had about eight to ten extra doses to use before it was considered bad.
“The staff actually stayed behind for a few hours to find additional patients to whom we could administer the vaccine,” Porsa said. “I am very proud of the way we administered the vaccines, the minimum amount of waste.”
Ellent, an oncologist, said the vaccine provides more than just protection against the virus for its cancer patients, who are already in isolation while undergoing chemotherapy.
“Cancer is hard enough. You put COVID on top of it and it’s devastating,” he said. “I give them hope and I give them the world, because before that they could not even go outside. They are scared. The patients talk through the screen with their family members. It becomes like a prison.” Vaccination actually indicates the patients hope to be broken out of this chain. “
13 Investigators have heard from residents in the country who say they have called several providers to make an appointment. At Genesis Medical Group, 6,700 people have been on a waiting list to receive the vaccine since last week.
“If you give me 6,700 vaccinations, believe me, we can use them within a week, but I need to get the vaccines,” Ellent said.
Follow Ted Oberg on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Copyright © 2021 KTRK-TV. All rights reserved.