“you are going to begin seeing vaccine doses discarded increasingly more often and in much greater numbers because of not having been administered before use by dates.”
I think that before valuable (bulk) vaccines are allowed to expire in inventory, they will be exported to other needy countries.
When AstraZeneca was delayed in the USA for additional study, a few million doses that had already been manufactured, and were sitting in inventory, were sent to Mexico and Canada for their use.
There is certainly going to be some variable wastage at the retail level, but at the wholesale level, in the millions of doses, that inventory will be managed around expiration dates.
Over the next couple of months, we are scheduled to receive a flood of additional vaccine supply. Surplus should become the norm. Pfizer and Moderna alone are contracted to provide enough for every man, woman and child in the Country by the end of June.
Demand does seem to have peaked already, and first shots are back down around a million per day this last week, from the two million per day that they had gotten up to.
“I think that before valuable (bulk) vaccines are allowed to expire in inventory, they will be exported to other needy countries.”
I think not initially. As the pipeline and logistics become established and workable then yes. But sh!tcanning the vaccines for non-use will be the preliminary result until out of country distribution protocols are established.