Fortune struck one man in the bakery aisle at the supermarket. Two others were working the night shift at a Subway sandwich shop. Yet another was plucked from a list of 15,000 hopefuls.
With millions of Americans waiting for their chance to get the coronavirus vaccine, a lucky few are getting bumped to the front of the line as clinics scramble to get rid of extra, perishable doses at the end of the day.
It is often a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
Sometimes people
“One of the nurses said I should go buy a lottery ticket right now,” said
“I got two doses of the
After MacMillan posted a video of his experience on
It has become one of the most unusual quirks in the often uneven, monthlong rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Once a vial is thawed from the deep freeze and, even more so, once its seal is punctured and the first dose is drawn, those administering the vaccine are in a race to use it up before it spoils ̶ even if it means giving shots to those
While it may be unsettling to see a 20-something getting a shot while an 90-year-old woman in a nursing home is still waiting, public health experts say getting a dose into someone’s arm, anyone’s arm, is better than throwing it away.
“As far as I’m concerned, vaccinate anyone but the dog," said Dr.
“It almost felt very secretive and undercover,” she said. “Almost like this shady drug deal.”
She said she started crying when she received her shot: "It was almost like you’ve been running this marathon since March and you just finished the race. It was pretty emotional.”
In
“We didn’t have to speed, but it was pretty close,” Schotte said. “I’m excited that I got it.”
However they get it, those who’ve lucked into getting a first shot are reserved a spot for a second one a few weeks later.
Vaccine clinics expect only a few leftover doses, at most, on any given day. Providers also note that the chances of leftover shots becoming available to the broader public are diminishing with each passing week as eligibility for the vaccine widens beyond the very old, nursing home residents and front-line medical workers.
Waste is common in global inoculation campaigns, with millions of doses of flu shots trashed each year. By one
Though federal data is not available, health authorities in various jurisdictions contacted by The Associated Press reported very little waste beyond a few notable cases of doses that were accidentally or deliberately spoiled.
In
“It’s like gold in Fort Knox,” said Dr. Ramon Tallaj, whose physician network SOMOS has been administering the vaccine in
Those giving out the vaccines are choreographing an intricate dance to ensure they are handled right. Vials of the
At a clinic on the Hawaiian island of
“It is such a precious commodity no one wants to waste it,” Price said.
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