More than 4,500 Santa Clara County residents did not make vaccinations at Levi’s Stadium last week, prompting the country to draw up waiting lists and make sure no doses of vaccination go to waste.
About 10% of the people who make vaccinations at provincial sites have not been in the process so far, officials told the NBC Bay Area. And without an existing waiting list, a familiar scenario took place Saturday at the Santa Clara County Fair. Officials realized that, as a result of exhibits, they had 300 doses that were thawed and would otherwise go to waste, and that e-mails, phone calls and text messages went out to the province employees to say they had to queue come if they wanted them.
Some doses were also given to the public.
It is unclear whether the vaccine was also thawed unnecessarily in Levi’s Stadium, but NBC Bay Area reports via provincial officials that there were 4,517 exhibits between Feb. 8 and Feb. 12. And the province says it’s probably due to a lot of people planning more than one. appointment, for fear of being canceled – a number of cancellations have taken place in Santa Clara County and elsewhere in recent weeks due to disruptions in the vaccine supply.
Province officials say Levi’s did not cancel any doses, despite all the non-appearances.
Dr. David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, tells NBC Bay Area that this pattern will continue and that it is inexcusable for provinces not to have mitigation plans in place – waiting lists and other ways to dispense extra vaccine once it has been thawed.
“With a waiting list available and a plan to mitigate the problem so you do not have good doses left and little time to deal with it,” said Dr. Magnus said.
Situations like these have occurred nationwide, enabling young and healthy people to jump in front of official queues and get their first doses – after which second doses are usually guaranteed.
In one case in early January, there was a freezer in a hospital in Ukiah, where 850 vaccine doses were stored, and doctors realized it was only a few hours before the vaccine was not viable because it had been thawed. There was a commotion in which hundreds of locals lined up to get their first shots in front of most of the state.
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