Fortunately, a jackpot for the COVID-19 vaccine was rarely added.

Good luck attacked a man in the aisle of a supermarket bakery. The other two were working night shifts at a sandwich shop on the subway. Yet another was pulled from the list of 15,000 applicants.

Millions of Americans Coronavirus Vaccines, a few lucky people are at the forefront as clinics scramble to remove excess perishable doses at the end of the day.

Often, the problem is being in the right place and at the right time.

People who happen to be near the clinic when the store closes may be offered the rest of the shots that would be thrown away. Sometimes health Workers go looking for recipients. There is also a place to keep a waiting list and draw names randomly. Such opportunities can be even more important, as there are several places to cancel vaccinations due to shortages around the United States.

“One of the nurses said I should go buy the lottery right now,” said Jesse Robinson, outside the clinic in Nashville, Tennessee. “I’m not going to ask too much about it. I’m glad.”

David MacMillan was picking up ingredients for a coconut chickpea dish at a giant grocery store in Washington. A woman in a white coat from a pharmacy in the store came to him and his friend.

“I got the Moderna vaccine twice. The pharmacy closes in 10 minutes. Do you want it?” McMillan, 31, recalled what the woman said. “I thought,’Let’s do our best'”

After MacMillan posted a video of his experience on TikTok, supermarket chains were flooded with phones and people hanging out for days hoping to get a shot.

It has become one of the most unusual habits of COVID-19’s often heterogeneous, one-month deployment. vaccine..

When the vial is thawed from quick freezing, and even when the seal is punctured and the first dose is withdrawn, people who administer the vaccine are in competition to run it out before it spoils. Those who do not fit into the priority list.

It may be uneasy to see a 90-year-old woman in a nursing home shot in her twenties while still waiting, but the general public health Experts say that taking it on someone’s arm, someone’s arm, is better than throwing it away.

“As far as I am concerned, immunize people other than dogs,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University.

In New York City, rumors of additional vaccinations at the Brooklyn Army Terminal caused a surge in vaccine distribution sites, with hundreds of people lined up on the streets for bumper bumper traffic and sidewalks until police came out. I did. tricked.

Mike Shotte, 53, and his 72-year-old mother began appearing at a pharmacy near their home in Hurst, Texas, aiming for shots of leftovers. Eventually they put their name on the waiting list and received a call saying that a shot might be available if they arrived within 30 minutes.

“I didn’t have to speed up, but it was pretty close,” Shot said. “I’m excited to get it.”

Nashville has launched a lottery system to avoid a more unplanned way of distributing the remaining shots. In one case last month, the city’s health department gave two workers an extra dose at a subway restaurant in a nearby hospital to keep them from being wasted.

Vaccine clinics expect only a few remaining doses at most on a particular day. Providers also week by week the remaining shots may become available to more people as vaccine eligibility extends beyond very old Elderly Housing with Care residents and front-line healthcare professionals. Also note that it has decreased to.

Waste is common in global vaccination campaigns, with millions of flu shots being dumped in the trash each year.According to one World Health Organization estimate, more than half of the total vaccine It will be destroyed because it has been mishandled, unclaimed, or has expired. The development of the coronavirus seems to have gone against this trend.

Federal data is not available, but health officials in various jurisdictions contacted by the Associated Press have little waste, except for some notable doses that were accidentally or deliberately ruined. I reported.

In Cook County, Chicago, Illinois, the Ministry of Health reported that only three of the 87,750 doses were wasted, each accidentally spilled by staff. In Ohio, authorities said 165 of the 459,000 doses distributed as of last week were damaged or lost in transit, discarded due to a vaccine no-show, or otherwise wasted. Stated. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Houston, and other cities and states all report a small portion of their waste as well.

“It’s like Fort Knox’s gold,” said Dr. Ramontaraj, a doctor network SOMOS vaccinated in New York City.

Vaccine distributors choreograph complex dances to ensure that they are treated correctly. Vials of Pfizer vaccine contain 5 doses, and in some cases an additional dose, and Moderna contains 10 doses. Also, the clinic will do its best not to open new containers unless the registered recipient is scheduled to be vaccinated.

At a clinic on Kauai, Hawaii, Jill Price calls someone registered for vaccination the next day if some doses appear to remain near the end of the day. , Said to see if they could come immediately.

“It’s a valuable product that no one wants to waste,” Price said.

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Associated Press writer Christine M. Hall contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.