Why is the U.S. hoarding hundreds of millions of Covid vaccines?

Instead of sending doses to poor countries in short supply, we’re holding them past their point of expiration.

Journalism is too opaque and misunderstood. Chills gives a behind-the-scenes look at how dangerous investigative journalism gets made.

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High-income countries are hoarding an estimated 870 million excess Covid vaccine doses, but they have a shelf-life of just six months. (Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

Nearly a year and a half ago, I wrote an obituary for a friend of mine who died of Covid-19 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mama Leki, a woman who wore vivid colors and had an even more vibrant laugh, had gone to Bukavu General Hospital — which had no ventilators — with a severe cough, even though many others in her town with symptoms were staying home for fear of being ostracized. Diagnostic tests for about 40 suspected cases, Mama Leki’s among them, were sent off to Kinshasa for analysis. No one knew when they might come back. She died the next day.

This was long before a Covid vaccine existed. But even if Mama Leki were alive now, it is extremely unlikely she would get one — Congo is far behind most of the world in terms of its vaccination rate, with only 0.1 percent of the country’s population having received at least one shot. That’s because Congo is suffering, like many other low-income countries, from a shortage of vaccines. Part of the reason, experts say, is because rich countries like the United States are holding back hundreds of millions of doses in reserve.

On Monday, Doctors Without Borders reported that even when “factoring in third-dose boosters for high-risk groups, high-income countries are hoarding an estimated 870 million excess doses — nearly 500 million in the U.S. alone.” On top of that, between March and September, state governments and pharmacies discarded 15.1 million doses, said NBC News, which obtained data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Worse yet, all the Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson supplies expire within six or seven months. If they don’t get used, they go to waste. So even if the U.S. government is planning to keep doses for potential future use at home, many in the current stockpile won’t last long.