Orange County has less vaccine waste than other areas in Florida, experts say

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — While every county, state and country works to vaccinate its people and stop the spread of COVID-19, it has a huge responsibility to protect the medicine saving so many lives, and avoiding waste.

Orange County Health officer Dr. Raul Pino said some places are reporting vaccine waste as high as 20%. But not Orange County.

“Our waste, what we call waste, is less than 1%. I know it’s hard to believe but even the state has come to check how we do it,” Pino said.

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That’s setting an example for the rest of Florida.

Pino said his staff showed the state how they use the number of no-shows they have from the day before to predict how many people they’ll have each day.

“Based on that, we pre-draw the vaccines,” Pino said.

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Toward the end of the day, they have each nurse draw individually, so they’re getting close to the exact amount.

But the vaccine must be trashed when something goes wrong with the draw, such as if the needle breaks or bends, or the syringe is dropped on the floor.

Any leftover doses are given to employees, law enforcement or offered to someone driving with the person who has an appointment, Pino said.

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