Most Missouri mass vaccination events last week had unused doses, but waste was rare

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021 file photo, a health worker prepares a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to be administered at a center set up in Fiumicino, near Rome's international airport. On Friday, March 5, 2021, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly asserting there is absolutely no need for vaccines to extinguish the pandemic and people who aren’t at risk from the disease should not be vaccinated. A misleading quote written in a U.K.-based blog in October 2020 by Michael Yeadon, a retired British doctor who previously worked for Pfizer, found new life on Facebook this week, circulating on a widely shared post. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021 file photo, a health worker prepares a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to be administered at a center set up in Fiumicino, near Rome's international airport. On Friday, March 5, 2021, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly asserting there is absolutely no need for vaccines to extinguish the pandemic and people who aren’t at risk from the disease should not be vaccinated. A misleading quote written in a U.K.-based blog in October 2020 by Michael Yeadon, a retired British doctor who previously worked for Pfizer, found new life on Facebook this week, circulating on a widely shared post. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Out of the 28 mass vaccination events supported by the Missouri National Guard last week, all but five had unused doses remaining at the end of the day, ranging from as few as 18 to nearly 1,500.

Only five events wasted any doses - with 143 of 152 wasted doses occurring at an event last Saturday in Putnam County.

According to data provided by the Missouri Department of Public Safety, 47,143 residents were vaccinated across the state's mass vaccination events for booster and prime doses Feb. 21-27.

The mass vaccination events, which were primarily held in rural areas, had drawn outrage last week after multiple clinics neared the end of the day with hundreds of doses on hand - prompting some health departments to encourage anyone to come for fear doses would be wasted.

All together, 7,735 doses were unused across the events and redistributed to other providers or saved for subsequent clinics. Only 152 doses went to waste.

The Putnam County event wasted 143 doses, and four others ranged from one to three doses wasted each.

Data was gathered by the Missouri National Guard and Missouri State Emergency Management Agency, while numbers on "wastage" was data local health departments reported Wednesday to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Bureau of Immunizations.

Gov. Mike Parson said Thursday wastage will happen occasionally, but the 143 doses wasted in Putnam County "should have never happened."

"I've got to own Putnam County," Parson told reporters. "What happened up there should have never happened. Just that simple. Shouldn't have happened. We got to fix it. We got to make sure we're doing a better job than what we did up there. We never want that situation to happen."

Parson said more mass vaccination teams will be transitioning to serve the state's urban areas, with three teams in the St. Louis region and two in the Kansas City region by April 1.

"Vaccine interest is often highest in the urban populations," Parson said.