According to health officials, the state has wasted more than 1,200 doses of coronavirus vaccine, a fraction of the nearly 1 million doses sent to Massachusetts so far.
“As of 2/5: a total of 1,096 doses of Moderna and 176 doses of Pfizer have been reported as wasted or 1,272 doses in total,” Ann Scales, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health, said in an email. said. “Of the 960,100 doses delivered so far, this represents a vaccine percentage of 0.13%.”
The wasted doses were previously reported by the Boston Herald.
The figure provided by DPH does not include the nearly 2,000 doses of the Modern COVID-19 vaccine that was spoiled at the Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center last month when a cleaning contractor accidentally loosened an electrical plug on a freezer.
The state DPH does not follow the doses that the federal government gives directly to the VA.
The DPH said Tuesday that a total of 696,051 first-dose coronavirus vaccines have been administered in Massachusetts, along with 214,361 second-dose doses.
The total of 910,412 doses administered is approximately 70.9 percent of the 1,283,700 doses sent to providers in the state so far, the department said in a new daily vaccination report.
Massachusetts is in the midst of a campaign to vaccinate millions of people in an effort to end a pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands and caused nearly 15,000 deaths in the state. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, the only vaccines allowed so far, are both two-dose vaccines.
The second upsurge of the state is declining. Cases, hospitalizations and other measures are down. But public officials are worried about a possible return of viruses due to new coronavirus variants, and they are asking people to continue with the precautions and to be vaccinated if it is their turn.
Material from previous Globe stories has been used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.