Vaccine "scavengers" are waiting outside clinics for leftover doses -- and their strategy often works

[marmar]

(Salon) Last week, Amanda Kloots, a co-host on CBS' "The Talk," posted an Instagram photo of herself getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The post sparked a minor social media furor, as many wondered how a 38-year-old woman in California, who by state standards isn't yet eligible for the vaccine, qualified for inoculation. Kloots revealed that she waited at a vaccine site until the end of the day when all other appointments were over — her hope being that she could get a vaccine from an open batch that would otherwise have to be thrown out.

"I went to a site and waited in my car until all appointments were over in hopes that they had any extra vaccine," Kloots explained in an Instagram post. "I was fully prepared to be turned away, but they said they had enough tonight for everyone waiting."

If Kloots' tale of waiting outside a clinic for an extra vaccine to fall off the truck gives you ideas, you're not alone. Many have wondered if waiting outside clinics at the end of the day can yield a free vaccine, one that might otherwise be chucked, or if Kloots' experience was exceptional.

As NPR reported previously, many COVID-19 vaccines at vaccination sites are getting thrown away. That's partly due to the logistics of properly storing the vaccines. The Pfizer vaccine needs to be kept in a freezer at -70° Celsius. Once it is transferred to a refrigerator, it has a short shelf life of just five days because of the fragile mRNA (synthetic messenger RNA) within. The Moderna vaccine is more hardy; it can be kept at a still-frosty -20°C, and can remain stable for up to one month at consumer refrigerator temperatures. But in the case of both vaccines, once the vials have been opened and the content has been thawed, they must be used or thrown out within five to six hours. ............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/02/26/vaccine-scavengers-are-waiting-outside-clinics-for-leftover-doses--and-their-strategy-often-works/

[brooklynite]

1. I know a local pharmacy that keeps a waiting list...

...and will call you to come for an available vaccination if you can be there in 10 min or less.

[LAS14]

2. Sounds like these scavengers are doing us all a service! nt

[Cirque du So-What]

3. I am fine with this

Those who worked themselves into a furor on social media probably don’t require much provocation to reach that state.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. Works for me.

[Hortensis]

21. Agree. Right now it works for all of us.

[mitch96]

5. This is smart.. why let a good jab in the arm go to waste...Looks like my next strategy nt

[rzemanfl]

7. Check for a PM from me. n/t

[mitch96]

11. Got it, tnx nt

[Wounded Bear]

6. I'm OK with this...

there's a poster on another site I frequent who is all up in arms about a fellow poster who got a shot this way. She's one of those "can't go now, somebody is wrong on the internet!" types. Generally goes on and on about transgenders playing sports and using rest rooms. I kinda wish I had enough time to worry about shit like that, but life's too short.

Anyway, one of her favorite logical sparring partners got poked at a Native American facility because he was there at the right time to get a leftover shot and she can't let it go.

I'm like: What? They should pour them down the drain?

[Ferrets are Cool]

8. I resent being called a "scavenger". I waited in line for hours for the off chance that they had

some no shows. I got very lucky and they had some left over at the end of the day. I now have had my second shot.

What about that is "scavenging"?

[LisaL]

9. Amanda Kloots is likely severely traumatized after what happened to her husband.

NT

[Tanuki]

12. For those who may not know, she is the widow of the award-winning

Broadway, film, and TV actor Nick Cordero, who died last year after a lengthy and brutal battle with covid-19. She is raising their toddler as a single mom. I think what she did was fine when the alternative was to risk letting already-thawed doses going to waste.

[Withywindle]

24. Oh wow, I didn't know that!

I already didn't have a problem with what she did - I want all the vaccines used, everyone who gets vaccinated contributes to help keep others safe. I don't want ANY vaccines going to waste. None.

But knowing that, I'm even more sympathetic.

[MustLoveBeagles]

10. I don't see a problem with it

I'd rather they go into arms than the trash can.

From the article:

"These are people who are being aggressive about getting vaccinated, and I'd rather have people being aggressive about getting vaccinated than not wanting to get vaccinated at all," said Dr. George Rutherford, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California–San Francisco. "It doesn't exactly stick with the tier system, but I think it's better than actually throwing it away at the end of the day."

As Rutherford alluded to, there are concerns around ethics and equity when it comes to the vaccine hunter approach. Countless Americans that are qualified to get a vaccine still cannot get a timely appointment. But bioethicists agree that if a dose is truly in danger of going to waste, it's fair to put that shot in someone's arm even if they are technically unqualified.

"I think that this kind of dogmatism over the priority groups — when the choice is to put the vaccine in someone's arm or put it in the trash can, when you've got politicians that would rather have trash cans — it's really, really mind boggling to me," Adalja said.

[mitch96]

13. Agree.. And who has the problem??? THEY DO so THEY can deal with it..

Somebody always want's to be outraged and piss in your cornflakes. I'll take it any way I can get it.. Yes, why waste a perfectly good vaccine injection just to be right and proper.. uffda
YMMV
m

[MustLoveBeagles]

14. I don't like waste

People cutting in line in front of at risk groups like the Canadian couple lying about being hotel workers are dicks. The Vaccine hunters are only taking the doses that would've been tossed anyway. They aren't taking anything away from others.

I found out a few days ago that my husband and I are eligible for the shot. It's finding an appointment that that's the problem. All the sites are booked solid. People from all over the state are coming our city to get the shots. We've been told to check everyday for any cancelations. My hubby and I have discussed it and if we can get only one appointment we agreed that I would go first. Mostly because he works remotely with rare trips to the office and I have to go my office 2 days a week.

[Blues Heron]

15. what about the second shot - do they have to scavenge again or are they now entitled

to the follow up shot as well?

[LisaL]

16. I believe once vaccinated once, they become entitled to the second shot.

NT

[Blues Heron]

18. makes sense, thanks

[Baitball Blogger]

17. This is fair game.

Though, it will probably be abused with clinic people calling family members to let them know it's a good day to come down to the mall.

[mopinko]

19. i dont get how is is happening.

imho the whole appt thing is stupid. just open up mass sites and shoot til you are out.
but what is the sense if this shit still happens? have a standby list for those who are already waiting.

[Hortensis]

20. We're too soon out of the criminal Trump/Republican obstructive chaos

to have our national and state and local acts completely together yet. That's how.

At least things are getting organized fast, though. Even GA and FL (FL's still a mess. though) are now taking names and SCHEDULING APPOINTMENTS. The main glitch where organization's in place is of course vaccine availability, but that's getting fixed. Fast.

Btw, here in FL, the vast majority of us said a huge no to DeSantis' fascist-level depravity of telling elderly people to go stand in line, in heat and cold all day with virus carriers, to try to snag a vaccination before supply ran out each day.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

22. And meanwhile, those of us who are over 70, properly signed up

with the appropriate agency, somehow don't get notified of available vaccine. It's getting quite irritating.

[Retrograde]

23. I wonder how many people make multiple appointments

after hearing all the stories about shortages, wait times, etc., then go to the first one and forget to cancel the rest. Things are starting to get better now that the grown-ups are in charge but it is still going to take a long time to get all the people who need shots vaccinated.

I also wonder how much extra vaccination sites stock to allow for spillage or damage in the course of a day.

[Footay]

25. Better than dumping it

Most counties in my area have developed "waste lists" with people who can be called to arrive in a short time frame if doses are available.

When we were vaccinating healthcare workers at the very beginning, we would call police dispatch if we had extras, and officers out on patrol could swing by and get their shot. I felt good about that.