More than 8 million doses of COVID vaccine sit unused in Florida, and close to 6 million returned to feds

Demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has slowed down so much that Florida has given 5.7 million doses back to the federal government.

In addition, more than 8.4 million doses allocated to Florida sit in freezers in doctors’ offices, pharmacies or clinics in Florida, waiting for someone to want protection from the virus.

As Florida’s surplus grows and demand weakens, providers say they can’t help but waste doses and fear vials stored in their freezers will expire before they can be used.

The vaccine rollout in Florida continues, but only about 10 million of the 19 million doses given to vaccine providers have been used, and vials are expiring. Already, 90,121 doses expired or spoiled before they could be used, according to Samantha Bequer, a spokeswoman for the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

“Unfortunately we do have vaccines that we have to toss out,” said Franck Kacou, the owner of Progress Pharmacy on Okeechobee Boulevard in West Palm Beach. “We don’t want to waste anything, but right now there is no other option.”

“I have about 100 doses of Moderna, and they are barely moving,” Kacou said.

Marcela Casas, a nurse with First Choice Neurology in Coconut Creek, scrambled to hold a one-day vaccination clinic on June 4, hoping to use the 70 doses she had left before they expired.

“It makes me sad,” Casas said “I am having to waste vaccine doses on a daily basis.”

Casas said her practice doesn’t want to turn away a single person, but once a Moderna vial is opened, any of the 10 to 15 doses that go unused must be tossed after 12 hours.

Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines also must be used quickly once opened. There are six doses in Pfizer vaccine vials, which must be used in six hours, and five doses in Johnson & Johnson vials, which also must be used within six hours.

Incentives not enough

Fair tickets, raffles, liquor shots for a shot, and countless other giveaways have failed to significantly motivate Floridians who are reluctant to get the vaccines; only about 42% of the population is fully vaccinated. In total, more than 10 million doses have been given out.

Florida averaged 20,284 new injections per day at the end of last week, down sharply from 106,944 on average in mid-April, according to the Florida Department of Health. President Joe Biden wants to have 70% of the adult U.S. population at least partially vaccinated by July 4 to avert new outbreaks.

In Florida, 61% of people 18 years or older are at least partially vaccinated and at the current rate, the President’s goal would be reached closer to mid-September.

Even as the death toll for COVID has topped 600,000, states such as Tennessee and North Carolina have given millions of doses back to the federal government, and Oklahoma has refused its weekly allotment, the Associated Press reported. Florida officials won’t say whether the state has stopped placing orders for new doses in recent weeks because of its large inventory, or whether health officials have returned vials to the federal stockpile. State and federal health officials did not respond to requests for information regarding Florida’s vaccine inventory.

Providers say demand has dropped off almost completely for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a one-shot, easy-to-store injection that held great promise because of its convenience. But the vaccine’s rollout was affected by a pause linked to a rare blood clot disorder and revelations of contamination problems at a Baltimore factory.

Millions of unused Johnson & Johnson doses nationwide were set to expire this month, before the government extended their dates by six weeks.

Kacou said he has about 100 Johnson & Johnson doses that would have expired. “Before the pause the demand was high, but almost overnight that stopped. I haven’t given anything back but I refused to order more.”

Vaccines do expire

Hundreds of New Yorkers learned Monday they got expired doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine at a pop-up vaccination site in Times Square. Officials say they are notifying everyone involved that they need to receive another dose as soon as possible.

Bequer, of the Florida’s emergency management division, said the state works closely with providers to monitor expiration dates and redistribute unused vaccines. The state is also working closely with the federal government to transfer excess supply, so doses can be used elsewhere, she said.

With an overwhelming inventory of unused doses, Florida’s small, independent pharmacies are working together, trying to transfer vaccines among themselves to anyone who can use them before they expire. Many of them invested in freezers and staff and put in orders for the vaccine early in the rollout when the prospect of doing their civic duty and earning revenue seeming promising.

Now that there’s a glut of vaccines, small pharmacies feel pressure to give them out before doses expire and face the challenge of managing their supply to minimize waste.

“Pretty much everyone has stopped reordering from the government,” said Theresa Tolle, owner of Bay Street Pharmacy in Sebastian and leader of the Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network in Florida.

Tolle said Florida vaccine providers have moved into a different phase in the rollout.

“If someone wants a shot we have to open the vial. There’s a fear if they leave they may not come back,” Tolle said. “We are wasting more doses than we were, but I think it’s just where we are in the cycle. We have to get to the next level and that’s going to involve some waste.”

Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says that waste is to be expected. New federal guidance includes the sentence, “Providers should not miss any opportunities to vaccinate every eligible person who presents at a vaccination site.”

Florida pharmacies rise to the challenge

Geneen Graber Maxwell, owner of Dr. G’s Pharmacy with four locations in Broward and Palm Beach counties, said she picked up Johnson & Johnson doses about to expire from a nearby pharmacy and plans to give them to tourists who walk in looking for vaccines. Because she has four locations, she can move the doses where demand is strongest.

Maxwell said she saw interest pick up when children 12 and older became eligible for the Pfizer vaccine, but now there’s a lull again. Her pharmacies are holding special events and booking appointments to avoid wasting doses in open vials. “It puts a little pressure on healthcare professionals to do some reach-out efforts.”

Sama M. Fombu, a family nurse practitioner in Miramar, has been trying to give out the last hundred of the 500 doses of Johnson & Johnson and roughly a thousand of Moderna she has at her Miramar clinic.

“It’s like pulling teeth getting people to come,” she said. Rather than let them expire, Fombu said she is going out into nearby neighborhoods and working with churches.

“I’m going to have to find out what to do if I can’t use them all,” she said. “But for now, I am only taking out of the freezer what I think I will be able to use.”

Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com