With North Carolina initially among the slowest states to administer coronavirus vaccines, reporters are raising questions about the effectiveness of its launch.
At a news conference on January 21, a reporter asked the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Mandy Cohen, how many photos were misused or lost.
“We, as a state, do not want to waste any vaccine. We see a very small number of vaccine wastes registered in our CVMS system, but they are very few, as in the dozens of doses “, Cohen replied.
North Carolina’s prey is “very small,” even “in the dozens?”
The state health department says, on average, it receives reports of less than 10 broken doses per provider. However, the total number of altered doses consists of the four digits, not two.
A day after Cohen’s briefing, the North Carolina Department of Health told the Associated Press that a total of 1,280 doses had been discarded.
About the discrepancy
I asked the department about Cohen’s comments on Thursday. Did she describe the number 1,280? Had she seen that specific figure of 1,280?
Chris Mackey, the department’s communications director, said no.
Cohen had not seen the specifics when he spoke at the Jan. 21 briefing, Mackey said, because the department did not report on the numbers until later. Cohen based his comments on “unique conversations” with other health officials.
“We sent a report when someone asked us. Mandy didn’t have the number, “Mackey said in a telephone interview. “He was trying to say I didn’t see any major incidents of vaccine waste.”
The 1,280 missed doses represent 0.1% of the state’s 1.1 million doses, the department said in an email.
There are 250 healthcare providers who administer the photos, the email said, meaning losses are on average about five doses per provider.
Comparison of conditions
It is difficult to know how the numbers in North Carolina compare to other states.
The CDC has instructed states to report vaccine waste in its tracking system, Kristen Nordlund, a spokeswoman for the agency, told PolitiFact. However, ProPublica reporters found that some states are not tracking their altered doses.
“We are working to find out how to provide this data online in the future, when the data is more complete,” Nordlund said.
A 2019 World Health Organization report 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 simple cases.
Wisconsin received national attention when authorities accused a local pharmacist of deliberately destroying about 500 doses of vaccine.
In Massachusetts, NBC News reported that a Veterans Hospital lost 1,900 doses after a cleaning contractor accidentally unplugged a refrigerator. In Ohio, Columbus Dispatch reported that a pharmacy missed 890 doses, failing to store them properly. In another case, nearly 12,000 pampered doses on the way to Michigan after the shipping truck cooled down too much.
Our leadership
Cohen said the health department received reports of “a very small number of vaccine wastes … but they are very few, as in dozens of doses.” The health department clarified Cohen’s remarks a day later.
It is fair to say that the rate of damage to the vaccine is “very low” – a tenth of 1%. However, Cohen was inaccurate in saying that the number was “in the tens.” The total number was 1,280.
We evaluate this statement as half true.