GARDEN CITY, Idaho — Since Idaho has begun distributing the COVID-19 vaccine, providers have been made aware of the short shelf-life of the vaccine.
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines can last up to six months frozen. However, once they are thawed, the shelf life is even shorter: the Moderna vaccine can be refrigerated for up to 30 days, while the Pfizer vaccine can only be kept for five days.
As vaccination continues, people sometimes cancel their appointments last-minute or just don't show up at all, leaving pharmacy technicians with unused doses that need to go into arms.
The need to ensure no doses are wasted is responsible for the creation of no-waste waitlists. Over the weekend, knowledge of these lists made its way around, specifically the one at the Garden City Walmart, where people not in the current priority category were getting vaccinated.
"We went on a whole bunch of websites and saw where we were going to be on the list which was way at the bottom, like the last people, you know?" Tony Schlangen said.
This weekend, 54-year-old Schlangen and his wife got their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
For the past year, the two have been extremely safe. They have not gone to restaurants, bars or done anything public to avoid catching the virus and spreading it to family and friends.
The two knew they were not scheduled to receive the vaccine for quite some time, so when a friend informed them of the no-waste waitlist at the Garden City Walmart, they made their way down there.
"When we went in and got on the list, it was written down on a college-ruled pad of paper," Schlangen said. "[The pharmacist] took our names, she said, 'OK, you're going to get a call from Arkansas. You know pick up the phone, and you'll have 30 minutes to get here in order to get the vaccine.'"
Four and a half hours later, the two received their shots.
While he is relieved that he is protected from the virus, Schlangen said feelings of guilt also accompany the excitement.
"There's a bunch of people who need it more than I do who would probably get really sick, but at the same time you don't want the vaccine to go to waste," he explained. "Talking to the professionals that were administering the shots, they said they had to use them and they had more, at least the person I talked to said they had more cancellations and no-shows than they did people that were signed up on the waiting list."
Despite the conflicting feelings, Schlangen is happy that he and his wife took the first step to return to pre-pandemic life.
"I don't want my loved ones to get sick because of me or my friends," he said. "I want to travel, I want to go to a restaurant again, I want things to get back to some sort of normalcy."
Before you jump in the car and head to the Garden City Walmart:
Yes, the pharmacy has a no-waste waitlist but they are no longer adding anyone to it right now.
As of Monday morning, the pharmacy has enough vaccines for about 200 appointments a day, which leaves a lot of wiggle room for people to not show up. On Sunday, 44 people who did not have an appointment got a shot at the Garden City Walmart.
Some days, shots will just be offered to shoppers. The pharmacy told KTVB that if you happen to be walking around the store between 2:30-3 p.m., you might have a shot at getting a dose.
However, this does not happen every day or at every Walmart. For example, the Overland Road Walmart only has enough vaccine for about 20-30 appointments each day. They also have a no-waste list and room on it.
The best way to find out where the no-waste waitlists are is to call your local Walmart or Albertsons.
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