POCATELLO — Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine has a short shelf life once it’s delivered to pharmacies, which has led to occasional long lines of patrons and frequent long hours for pharmacy staff working to avoid wasted doses.
For example, the Ammon Walgreens had 230 doses of Pfizer vaccine that had to be used by 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, and the race was on to get them delivered to store locations where they could be quickly administered, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
That hard work to avoid waste appears to be paying off, according to Health and Welfare data. As of Friday morning, Health and Welfare reported Idaho had administered 393,615 total doses of both Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, with only 358 doses going to waste. The loss has been less than a tenth of a percent.
“Providers are required to report wasted doses, and the last I knew, providers were doing a very good job of using the vaccine,” Health and Welfare spokeswoman Niki Forbing-Orr said via email.
In Walgreens’ case, Forbing-Orr said they shipped extra doses from Ammon to store locations in Southeast Idaho, the Magic Valley and central Idaho. Every dose was administered, Forbing-Orr said.
Pharmacies such as Walgreens get their vaccine supplies directly from the federal government. Nonetheless, the Pocatello Walgreens reportedly reached out to the Southeastern Idaho Public Health Department for help in finding patients to receive the surplus doses.
Tracy McCulloch, a spokeswoman for the local health district, said staff from her agency called numbers from a list of people in vaccine priority groups, such as anyone 65 and older, and alerted them about the doses at Walgreens.
“One of our employees went to check up on it and he said it was a long line, possibly 50 people, (at Walgreens) Tuesday night,” McCulloch said. “... All of our providers are being good about using the vaccine or if they have some left over, contacting us and making sure we give it to another provider.”
McCulloch emphasized that providers needn’t strictly follow the priority group guidelines when administering vaccines if a dose or doses would expire otherwise.
Walgreens officials declined to comment specifically, but a corporate spokeswoman, Emily Delnicki, offered a general statement regarding coronavirus vaccines: “Walgreens is committed to ensuring every dose of COVID-19 vaccine is used. At this time, demand for vaccines outweighs supply, so excess doses are rare. In the event that there are remaining doses at the end of the day that are due to expire, those doses may be used to vaccinate Walgreens team members who are eligible to receive vaccines as part of the phased plans outlined by the CDC and states.”
Local pharmacist Greg Maag, owner of Maag Prescription and Medical Supply at 333 W. Center St. in Pocatello, explained that the Pfizer vaccine requires special cooling equipment to store it at between -76 degrees and -112 degrees. Once it arrives at his pharmacy and is moved to a standard cooler, it must be used within six days. Each bottle of Pfizer vaccine contains six doses, all of which must be used within six hours of the bottle being opened.
The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, by contrast, remains viable for up to 30 days after being thawed. Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines require two shots taken several days apart. Southeastern Idaho Public Health was due to receive its first 1,200 doses of a third vaccine, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson, on Friday. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires just one shot to administer and is relatively simple to store.
Nowadays, Maag often finds himself still working at 8 p.m., seeking to finish an open bottle of Pfizer vaccine.
“When you close and you have doses ... I know some 80-year-olds and 90-year-olds and I went to their house to give them a shot,” Maag said, adding house calls are a luxury made possible by the small size of his business.
Maag’s current wait time for a priority group member to receive a COVID-19 vaccine is about a week from scheduling an appointment.
McCulloch said the region has been experiencing a prolonged decline in COVID-19 transmission, which she attributes to the combination of vaccinations, public face mask policies, good sanitation, warmer weather and the end of holiday gatherings.
McCulloch said the district has been hovering around 30 new COVID-19 cases per day.
“Yesterday we had only 18 cases,” McCulloch said on Friday. “Last week, we had a day where we only had 16.”
Area cases reported on Monday, however, ticked up again, with 43 new COVID-19 cases and three additional deaths reported in Southeast Idaho.