CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Every day, unused doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are thrown away because they expire, pharmacists with Carolina Pharmacy shared with WCNC Charlotte. In the last few months, the demand for the vaccine has dropped, putting pharmacists in a difficult position.
"Initially when the vaccine came out, we had a large demand. In fact, we even had some patients waiting outside," Kavel Bhathela, a pharmacist with Carolina Pharmacy, said. "We've seen that go away. Our vaccination numbers have decreased a lot since the beginning."
Bhathela says vaccine vials come with several doses. Once you open a vile, depending on the vaccine brand, you have just a few hours to use all of the doses before they expire. Sometimes that means one dose is used, and nine are thrown out.
"It's very unfortunate," Bhathela said. "You know, I've got family in India and here we are throwing away vaccines when thousands of people are dying per day in India."
Bhathela says it's difficult to pinpoint exactly why demand has dropped, but he says there are days just one person comes in to get vaccinated or no one comes in at all.
"I would imagine that the majority of patients that wanted to get vaccinated early on did receive one or both doses already," Bhathela said. "So it must be the community that's just not willing to get vaccinated or maybe has some hesitancy towards getting vaccinated."
The drop in vaccinations is a trend Carolina Pharmacy is seeing at both of its North Carolina and South Carolina locations. NCDHHS data shows 40% of adults in North Carolina are fully vaccinated, and SCDHEC reports 38% of adults in South Carolina are fully vaccinated.
Carolina Pharmacy is trying to make getting a vaccine as easy as possible. You can schedule appointments online at carolinapharmacy.com or you can walk-in to one of its locations.
Contact Indira Eskieva at ieskieva@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.