Canadians would like Michigan's extra COVID-19 vaccines before they go to waste
But there's one group who would like to take advantage of Michigan's extra vaccines that are ready to expire so they don't go to waste -- neighboring Canada, where supply is low and demand is high, and two-dose vaccine shots are being spaced up to four months apart.
More than 37,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been spoiled or wasted in Michigan out of more than 10.8 million doses delivered to the state.
While the amount is very small, it has doubled in the last couple of weeks, going from 17,586 doses as of May 10 to 37,053 doses as of May 25, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services — a far cry from earlier this year when practically no doses were wasted as vaccines were in high demand and short supply.
A May 3 Kaiser Health News report indicated CVS and Walgreens had the highest level of vaccines wasted in the U.S. -- nearly 128,500 shots combined of 182,874 wasted doses as of late March. In Michigan, COVID-19 vaccine waste data as of May 17 showed that 61% of the 23,489 wasted doses at that time were drawn but not used, according to a Free Press analysis.
In order to tap into this potential boon, Canadian officials say they have discussed a host of possibilities, from meeting in the middle of one of the bridges or the tunnel that connects the two countries, using a duty-free store as a vaccination site, having a bus at the end of a bridge on the U.S. side, or even paying for a border patrol agent to be on a bus taking Canadians to and from a vaccination site in Michigan.
