Looking into Vaccine Wastage
WEEKLY COVID VACCINE RESEARCH UPDATE Friday, August 13, 2021 High-income country confirmed dose total: 6.6 billion Upper-middle-income country total: 2.5 billion Lower-middle-income country total: 3.2 billion Low-income country total: 331 million COVAX total: 3.3 billion Total worldwide confirmed purchases of Covid-19 vaccines: 15 billion doses INSIGHTS Author: Blen Biru Looking into Vaccine Wastage Despite the shortage of Covid-19 vaccines globally, millions of doses are being wasted rather than used. Vaccine wastage is defined as vaccines discarded, lost, damaged or destroyed according to the WHO. There are two phases where vaccines are exposed to wastage – opened and unopened vials. Unopened vials are mostly wasted due to expiration, heat exposure, and incorrect inventory, and open vials are primarily wasted through contamination. A certain amount of wastage is expected, given the nature and complexity of vaccine…