ATLANTA — Georgia remains one of the worst states for vaccinations. The latest numbers find more than half of the people eligible for the shots in our state are not vaccinated.
Are all the unused vaccines expiring and getting thrown out?
The 11Alive Verify team set out to fact check.
THE QUESTION
Did hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 vaccines expire and get thrown out in Georgia?
THE ANSWER
Less than 7% of the doses in Georgia are expired. But, they are not in the trash. They are being set aside in case their expiration date changes.
WHAT WE KNOW
Georgia's Department of Public Health estimates that more than 682,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine expired between Dec. 14, 2020 to Aug. 1, 2021.
Even though these shots are considered to be expired, DPH said there is a chance the Food and Drug Administration could extend the shots' shelf life.
This happened twice already for Johnson and Johnson's vaccine. No changes have been made as of now for Pfizer and Moderna's shots.