Public health reports almost $600,000 in wasted vaccines

GUELPH – Almost $600,000 worth of vaccines was wasted at Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) in 2025 – but largely for reasons beyond their control, officials say.

WDGPH is responsible for distributing publicly-funded vaccines to doctors’ offices, hospitals, long-term care homes and clinics – and for ensuring their safe storage and administration.

It must also report vaccine wastage to the Ministry of Health.

A report to the board of health that was discussed at the April 1 meeting, indicates WDGPH distributed $14.7 million worth of vaccines from January to December 2025 and $574,000 worth was wasted.

Vaccines need to be transported and stored at specific temperatures, and they need to be used before their expiry dates.

“Cold chain is crucial for maintaining vaccine efficacy … throughout storage and transportation,” the report states.

To that end, public health inspectors also check on vaccine refrigerators to ensure compliance with guidelines and in 2025, inspectors reviewed all 267 vaccine refrigerators and responded to 20 cold chain “excursions.”

In one case a fridge door was left ajar; in another electricity was disconnected. There were four refrigerator/freezer malfunctions, 11 power outages and three instances marked as “unknown.”

These events account for some of the wastage.

The Ministry of Health mandates that annual wastage rates don’t exceed five per cent for any individual health unit. In 2025, WDGPH had a wastage rate of 4%, which meets the standard but is an increase from 1.6% in 2024.

Medical Officer of Health Dr. Nicola Mercer noted the flu vaccine was distributed in the fall of 2025, but unused portions were returned in 2026, skewing the numbers.

“Some (vaccines) have a short expiry date, and we can’t use them in time,” she said. 

And some vaccines come packaged with 10 doses per vial.

“If we get two people, we will waste eight,” she added.

Vice president of community health and chief nursing officer Rita Isley said the ministry sent a large amount of one vaccine with a short expiry date.

“We got 1,000 doses but only 200 were eligible. So that was significant wastage for us,” she said.

Isley said WDGPH is looking at remote monitoring and encouraging the ministry to send single-dose or smaller vials of vaccines to avoid such wastage.

“These numbers are very high and concerning,” she said, agreeing with board member Campbell Cork, who drew attention to the report in the consent agenda.