Since North Carolina was initially one of the slower states to administer coronavirus vaccines, reporters are questioning the effectiveness of the rollout.
At a press conference on Jan. 21, a reporter, Secretary Mandy Cohen of the Department of Health and Human Services, asked how many shots had been misused or lost.
“As a state, we don’t want to waste a vaccine. We see very small numbers of vaccine waste registered in our CVMS system, but it is very few, as in the dozens of doses, ”Cohen replied.
Is North Carolina’s loot count “very small,” even “in the tens?”
The state health service says it receives on average reports of less than 10 tainted doses per supplier. However, the total number of spoiled doses is four digits, not two.
A day after Cohen’s briefing, the North Carolina health department told the Associated Press that a total of 1,280 doses had been thrown away.
About the discrepancy
We asked the department about the comments Cohen made on Thursday. Did she describe the number of 1,280? Had she seen that particular figure of 1,280?
Chris Mackey, the department’s communications director, said no.
Cohen hadn’t seen the specific at all when she spoke at that Jan. 21 briefing, Mackey said, because the department did not issue a report on the numbers until later. Cohen based her comments on “one-off conversations” with other health officials.
“We made a report when someone asked us for it. Mandy didn’t have the number, ”Mackey said in a phone interview. “She was trying to say we haven’t seen any major incidents of vaccine waste.”
The 1,280 tainted doses account for 0.1% of the 1.1 million doses in the state, the department said in an email.
There are 250 health care providers administering the shots, the email said, meaning the losses average about five doses per health care provider.
Compare states
It’s hard to know how North Carolina’s numbers compare to other states.
The CDC has instructed states to report vaccine waste in its tracking system, agency spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund told PolitiFact. However, ProPublica reporters found that some states are not tracking their tainted doses.
“We are in the process of figuring out how to provide this data online in the future when the data is more complete,” said Nordlund.
A 2019 report from the World Health Organization says vaccine waste is expected to be between 5% and 20% during mass vaccination campaigns.
There are reports of other states losing hundreds of doses in a few incidents.
Wisconsin received national attention when authorities charged a local pharmacist with deliberately destroying about 500 doses of the vaccine.
In Massachusetts, NBC News reported that a Veterans Affairs hospital lost 1,900 doses after a cleaning company accidentally unplugged a refrigerator. In Ohio, the Columbus Dispatch reported that a pharmacy had corrupted 890 doses by improperly storing them. In another case, nearly 12,000 doses were spoiled en route to Michigan after the truck got too cold.
Our verdict
Cohen said the health department is receiving reports of “very small amounts of vaccine waste … but it’s very few, as in the dozens of doses.” The health department clarified Cohen’s comments a day later.
It is fair to say that the vaccine spoilage rate is “very small” – one tenth of 1%. However, it was not correct for Cohen to say that the number was “in the tens.” The total number was 1,280.
We rate this claim Half True.