Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Covid-19 Vaccines Are Being Thrown Away

Despite rising Covid-19 cases and deaths around the United States, the highly anticipated vaccine, which began being distributed in December, has been sitting shelved in hospitals and clinics around the country. Many vials have even been left to expire and be discarded. 

Allison Noel

January 14, 2021
Facebook Twitter Share
Stylized image of a person receiving a vaccination shot in their upper arm.
Image: Alex Wong / Getty Images

After nearly a year of the “race for a vaccine,” the bungled rollout of the highly anticipated Covid-19 vaccination has once again highlighted the utter failure of the U.S. response to the coronavirus. The first shipments of Pfizer and Modern’s Covid-19 vaccines began to arrive in states throughout the country on December 13 with the express goal that 20 million people would be inoculated by January 1. However, since then, the U.S. not only failed to reach that goal, but also allowed thousands of unused vials of the vaccine to expire and be discarded. 

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the United States reported yet another grim milestone, with 4,200 deaths in one day, the highest single day death-toll since the start of the pandemic. To date, over 384,000 people have died from coronavirus in the United States alone. The numbers are staggering, and officials are warning that the upcoming weeks could see even more deaths and infections. The UK variant of Covid-19, which appears to transmit more efficiently between people, was first detected in Colorado and, as of January 4, has already been detected on the opposite coast in New York. The new variant has an increased R0 value (the average number of people one sick person infects) of 1.5 rather than 1.1, meaning, for example, that 100 sick people will infect another 150, rather than 110, on average. Even despite the potential havoc this new, more transmissible strain could cause, vaccines have been sitting on shelves unused and wasted. 

In spite of assurances from officials in charge of Project Warp Speed that all Americans who want a vaccination will receive one by June 2021, only about 7 million shots have been administered as of this week, far behind the initially projected track to reach that goal. 

In many cases, state officials are too rigidly setting limitations for priority populations, making it difficult to distribute all of the available doses of the vaccine. In clinics and hospitals throughout New York, for example, hospital staff were forced to throw out precious vaccine doses because of difficulties finding patients who matched precisely with the state’s strict, yet ambiguous, vaccination guidelines. Doctors who wanted to use the additional vaccines on high-risk patients, such as those who are HIV positive or who have diabetes, refrained for fear of violating the state rules and the repercussions that could come with inoculating those outside the specified mandate. Even with the most recent guidelines, those who “fit the criteria” are unclear. For example, frontline grocery store workers are eligible. However guidelines don’t specify whether that includes bodega workers or other food store workers. Regardless, when it comes to the decision to either vaccinate someone outside the guidelines or let vaccines go to waste for fear of repercussions from the state, the answer should be obvious, especially in the interest of public health at large. 

Vaccine providers face steep penalties if they administer a vaccine to a patient outside the bounds of the strict guidelines. Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital, located just outside of New York City, is currently under investigation for prematurely vaccinating city and school system employees in New Rochelle. Montefiore — the same hospital whose nurses went on a two day strike in December for safe staffing ratios and safe working conditions — is now facing potential sanctions and penalties. The DOH also said that the hospital’s vaccine supply would be reallocated to the Westchester County Health Department

However, only after weeks of delays and a backlog of hundreds of thousands of unused coronavirus vaccine doses piled up or were thrown away did Governor Cuomo expand the eligibility to receive a vaccine.  

And as vaccines go to waste across the United States, it is ever more glaringly apparent how much worse the international poor and working class will suffer as a result of capitalist, imperialist gluttony. Wealthy imperialist nations like the United States have reserved more vaccines than they need — 4 vaccinations per capita — and developers will not share their intellectual property, prohibiting the vaccine from being manufactured at a much larger scale and more quickly. Billions of people around the world will not receive the Covid-19 vaccine for years to come, with conservative estimates suggesting many might not get vaccinated until 2024. Rich countries with only 14% of the world’s population have bought up 53% of the eight most promising vaccines, leaving the Global South, which has experienced some of the most acute crises, to die. 

Throughout the pandemic we have seen the government’s negligence and corporations’ drive for profit. The resulting economic and health crises have wrought havoc on the lives of the working class — from PPE shortages for healthcare workers, hours-long wait times to receive a Covid-19 test, to the current disastrous and wasteful vaccine rollout. Although infuriating, it is unsurprising for a country whose healthcare system is based on capitalist profit. 

The only way to solve these ills is to nationalize the healthcare system under worker control. As we have seen since the beginning of the pandemic, healthcare workers on the front line have shown that they can react quickly and make decisions centering patient health over profit. Capitalism will never give us what we need. We not only need a new healthcare system, but a new economic system that values life over profit. 

Facebook Twitter Share

Allison Noel

Allison Noel is a nursing student in New York City.

United States

Former president Donald Trump standing at a podium in front of American flags.

To Stop Trump, We Need Much More Democracy, Not Less

Democrats have been trying to kick Trump off the ballot as an "insurrectionist." Liberals say we have to restrict democracy in order to save it. As socialists, we think they have it backwards: to beat the Far Right, we need a mass movement fighting for radical democracy.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 18, 2024

New Jersey Democrats Attack the Public’s Right to Government Records

The New Jersey state assembly, led by the Democratic Party, just tried to fast-track a bill that would have gutted the Open Public Records Act. This is a reminder that their party is an obstacle, not an ally, in the fight to preserve democracy.

Samuel Karlin

March 15, 2024
President Biden giving his State of the Union speech at a podium in March, 2024.

Biden’s State of the Union: Hyper-Nationalism and Eroding Legitimacy

President Biden’s hyper-nationalistic State of the Union speech focused on selling himself as a defender of democracy at home and abroad. But it’s not enough to solve his — and the whole U.S. regime’s — crisis of legitimacy.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

March 14, 2024

Super Tuesday Confirms Trump, Biden Faceoff in November

As predicted, Biden and Trump won big on Super Tuesday, all but guaranteeing their nominations. However, even these primary results show a presidential campaign marked with contradictions.

Tristan Taylor

March 7, 2024

MOST RECENT

Declaration: End Imperialist Intervention in Haiti, Solidarity with the Haitian People

The “Multinational Security Support Mission” announced by the United States marks a new imperialist-colonial intervention in Haiti by the United States, the UN, and their allies.

“Poor Things” Floats Like a Butterfly and Stings Like a Butterfly

Poor Things is a fantastical comedy with beautiful set design and costumes and an Oscar-winning performance from Emma Stone. So why did it leave me feeling so empty? Despite juggling feminist and socialist ideas, the film is ideologically muddled and often self-contradictory.

Basil Rozlaban

March 16, 2024

Berlin Police Attack an Anti-Imperialist Feminist Demonstration on March 8

On International Women's Day, there were numerous demonstrations in Berlin, including: a union demonstration, an anti-imperialist demonstration, and a supposedly "leftist" demonstration in solidarity with Israel. As you would expect, police only attacked one of the three.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 14, 2024

At a Meeting in Paris, 1,200 People Put Revolution Back on the Agenda

Last Wednesday, 1,200 people attended a meeting of Révolution Permanente, the sister site of Left Voice in France. The group has been playing an important role in the fight against neoliberal reforms and the Far Right, while showing that a world beyond capitalism is more possible than ever.

Feargal McGovern

March 12, 2024