When it became clear that there would be little progress, he said, “We had to go look.”
In early February, with six inches of fresh snow on the ground and an almost impassable hill plowed into the base of his driveway, he said a Rite Aid called with the news that they had one extra dose.
“I said, ‘I’ll take it,'” he said. Shah, who received his second dose on Tuesday. “Come rain, come shine, come snow, I’ll be there.”
But leftovers are getting harder and harder to find. More people are watching, and the extras are dropping as pharmacies and public health agencies get better at matching the available bottles of each day to their list of appointments.
Vaccination teams in Fairfax County, Va., Fill individual syringes from a shared supply of vaccines to make sure they do not open new vials at the end of the day. Several cities have compiled special surplus lists to offer doses to police officers, teachers or the elderly. Columbus, Ohio, said the “no waste” list is full of 250 people.
At Discount Drug Mart, a chain of 76 pharmacies in Ohio, vaccination teams pick up their doses throughout the day at exhibits and begin reaching out early to the 25 people on their ongoing assistance lists. Rarely can someone who waits in the parking lot or make an appeal at 9pm land a vaccine.
“It’s a priority to never waste a dose,” said Jason Briscoe, director of the pharmacy industry.
Often the hunt is just days of frustration. Sara Stoltz drove around Dallas for days to get a dose of leftovers for her 64-year-old mother. They are being turned away from pharmacies whose waiting lists are already 200 people deep. They stop at every Walmart they can, only to learn that no one missed an appointment.
“I keep hearing rumors,” she said. Stoltz said, with no dose behind him. “It’s like one of the urban myths.”