Single vaccine clinic in Leicester responsible for tenth of known dose wastage across England

Exclusive: Other trusts in England have also reported high rates of vaccine wastage

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A single vaccine clinic in Leicester was responsible for a tenth of all known doses thrown away by NHS-run hubs across England last year, figures show.

The Peepul Centre, run by Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, disposed of 9,066 Moderna doses after placing a “high-volume” order in July 2021 that was never needed. Demand for the vaccine was “extremely low”, the trust said.

As a result, the trust threw away in total more Moderna jabs (12,909) than it administered throughout 2021 (12,293). It also wasted 2,681 and 1,162 doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines respectively.

According to data obtained by freedom of information requests, at least 99,361 doses were discarded by hospital hubs and large vaccination sites in England last year. The figures are relevant to the 76 trusts that replied to The Independent’s FOI requests, out of more than 200 that were approached.

Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust contributed 16.9 per cent of this waste, the data shows, while the Peepul Centre alone was responsible for 9.1 per cent.

The trust explained that, after it had placed its large order in July, demand for the Moderna vaccine was “extremely low for various reasons”.

A spokesperson added: “Unfortunately, at that time, there were no other providers of Moderna across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, therefore it could not be mutually aided to reduce this waste and the vaccine reached its expiration.” (Mutual aid is the name given to a system by which vaccine doses are able to be shared across NHS sites.)

Nationally, The Independent understands that dose wastage has become worse in recent weeks, after trusts ordered tens of millions of extra jabs in preparation for the UK’s booster drive, only for demand to drop off after Christmas.

Many of these doses are lying unused in clinic fridges, with around 2 million Pfizer doses close to reaching their expiry date and set to be thrown away, an NHS source said.

Global Justice Now (GJN), a health campaign group, described the waste as “appalling” but said it was “not the fault of hardworking NHS staff and volunteers”.

“It’s down to the government’s shameful policy of hoarding vaccines while blocking lower-income countries from making their own,” said Tim Bierley, a campaigner for GJN.

“Just two weeks ago, ministers told MPs that the UK does not stockpile vaccines, but that clearly doesn’t square with these shocking figures. They’ve ordered far more than Britain’s fair share of the world’s supply, while stopping more manufacturers from joining the global effort.

“The British government would rather send doses to the bin than to the global south.”

Based on the data collected by The Independent, just 1.2 per cent of the UK’s vaccine supplies have been thrown away since the beginning of the national rollout – amounting to 1,659,590 doses.

Reasons for disposal include missed appointments, low demand, dropped vials, incorrect preparation prior to administration, and spoiled supplies.

The vast majority of trusts, hospitals and local vaccine centres have kept dose wastage to a minimum. However, some have bucked the national trend, according to the data.

Between 8 December 2020 and 31 December 2021, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust threw away 16.4 per cent of its Pfizer doses.

The figure stood at 45.8 per cent for the Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust, and 20.7 per cent for the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust.

There were high wastage levels in England’s prisons, too. Some 16 per cent of AstraZeneca doses were discarded in prisons handled by Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, along with 23.7 per cent of Moderna supplies.

Across England, Moderna was the most commonly discarded vaccine. Despite being the least used jab across the 76 NHS trusts, it accounted for the largest proportion of waste.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust threw away nearly 10,000 Moderna doses – a wastage rate of 4.9 per cent – having rolled out 181,302 jabs.

Solent NHS Trust had an even higher rate of 8.5 per cent. It threw away 5,950 Moderna doses and administered 63,977.

Although the AstraZeneca vaccine was the easiest to store for NHS teams, and had the longest shelf-life, some sites were guilty of throwing away a high percentage of doses.

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust threw away 1,139 AstraZeneca doses and rolled out 8,597 – a wastage rate of 11.7 per cent.

An NHS spokesperson said: “The fastest and most successful vaccination programme in NHS history has delivered more than 115 million jabs, with sites given supplies based on their requests and expected demand.

“The NHS continues to encourage people to come forward for their life-saving jab – particularly those who were unable to get their booster because they tested positive for Covid-19, in line with JCVI [Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation] advice.”

As revealed by The Independent last year, the UK Health Security Agency destroyed 604,400 AstraZeneca doses in August after they went out of date.

The supplies were deemed surplus to demand when the decision was made in May to stop offering the vaccine to younger age groups after concerns were raised over rare side effects. However, the government failed to donate the excess vaccines abroad, resulting in their eventual disposal.