SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – About a month after federal data showed that 11% of COVID-19 vaccine doses in the U.S. had been discarded, health officials and experts say a now-dominant strain of the virus heightens the need for vaccination.
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NBC News obtained U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data last month indicating that federal agencies, states, territories and pharmacies discarded 82.1 million doses the U.S. government distributed between December 2020 and this May, good for 11% of the doses federal officials doled out during that time.
CDC data released this week showed that the omicron BA.5 variant is the most dominant strain in the country, leading the agency and experts like Dr. Bob Wachter, Chair of the UCSF Department of Medicine, to warn of another potential wave as case rates remain elevated in the Bay Area and across the country.
Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in Vanderbilt University's Department of Health Policy and School of Medicine, told KCBS Radio's Melissa Culross during Thursday's "Ask An Expert" segment that COVID-19 strains' increasing contagiousness means public health officials can't forecast a vaccination level that would limit the virus' spread.
"Once we got into delta, and beyond delta into omicron, those were such contagious viruses that it seemed unlikely we could achieve anything like 'herd immunity,' " Schaffner said. "So now, the notion is probably all of us need to be protected."
The nine-county Bay Area has some of the highest vaccination rates in the country, with 69% of all residents completing their initial vaccination series in the region's last-vaccinated county (Solano) and 89.6% in its most-vaccinated (Marin), according to the CDC. Yet all nine counties have a high COVID-19 level, as defined by the federal agency.
Schaffner said it's becoming increasingly likely COVID-19 is mutating in a way that it will "become less severe and more contagious," but the risk of hospitalization and death will remain high for people who aren't vaccinated.
Even with federal data showing so many going to waste, Schaffner said there are plenty of doses to go around. More importantly, with one-third of the country not yet vaccinated and nearly 22% of it yet to receive a single dose, he added there are plenty of arms that need those shots.
"Well, I'm afraid we're, in part, there already because there are so many people who are eligible for the vaccines and the boosters who haven't received them yet," Schaffner told Culross of possible COVID-19 complacency. "People want to get back to something that's close to normal, so we're going to have to keep getting the message out: These are nasty viruses. Science can help you protect yourself. Get vaccinated."
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