Wasted, spoiled or expired COVID-19 vaccine doses (California)

Thank you for contacting the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to obtain public records.
Your Public Records Act (PRA) request dated January 31, 2021, is being processed.  Reference Number P011772-013121 has been assigned for tracking purposes.  Please refer to this reference number for use when accessing the CDPH Public Records Center Portal to monitor the progress of your request.
CDPH strives to answer all requests for public records in as timely a manner as possible.  Under California law, CDPH must respond to your inquiry no later than ten calendar days from receipt of the request to notify you whether records will be disclosed.   Note that some records are exempted from disclosure.  If the requested records are exempt, we will inform you in writing as to why.
The Public Records Act (see Govt. Code §6250 et. seq.) provides that CDPH may extend the response period for up to 14 calendar days should it be necessary to search for records located at off-site facilities or if the request involves a voluminous amount of records.  We will notify you within 10 days of receipt of your request if a 14-day extension is necessary.  If fees are involved, CDPH will need to collect the fees before releasing the records.  However, there is typically no fee for records released electronically through the Public Records Center Portal.
The 10- and 14-day response periods are to allow CDPH time to determine how long it will take to disclose the requested records.  Depending on the number of records requested or other factors, a response may take longer.  CDPH will do its best to provide documents on a rolling basis as they become available and to keep you informed as to the timing and type of records to be released.
Please visit the CDPH Public Records Center Portal to monitor request progress, communicate with CDPH staff processing your request and to submit future requests.
California Department of Public Health

February 10, 2021 RE: Public Records Act Request, Reference Number P011772 Dear Joshua Eaton, On February 10, 2021 , the Department of Public Health (CDPH) received your request for the following records under the Public Records Act:
* any and all data on the number of wasted, spoiled or expired COVID-19 vaccine doses from 12/11/2020 to 01/26/2021, and any and all data on the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered from 12/11/2020 to 01/26/2021. CDPH is in the process of gathering and reviewing the requested records. Pursuant to Government Code section 6253, subdivision (c), CDPH requires an additional 14 days to make a determination of whether CDPH has disclosable records. The extension of time is due to the need:
To search for and collect the requested records from field facilities or other establishments separate from the office processing the request; and
In the case of electronic documents, to compile the public records through programming language or a computer program, or to construct a computer report to extract the public records. A determination will be made no later than February 24, 2021. By such time CDPH will notify you as to its determination of whether records will be disclosed and, if not, the basis for the determination. CDPH will do its best to provide documents on a rolling basis as they become available and to keep you informed as to the timing and type of records to be released. In the interim, please note that the most up-to-date data on vaccine administration, which is available on a county-level, is available online via the Vaccination Progress Dashboard at https://covid19.ca.gov/vaccines/#California-vaccines-dashboard Thank you, Matt Conens

February 24, 2021 RE: Public Records Act Request, Reference Number P011772 Dear Joshua Eaton, On January 31, 2021 , the Department of Public Health (CDPH) received your request for the following records under the Public Records Act:
* any and all data on the number of wasted, spoiled or expired COVID-19 vaccine doses from 12/11/2020 to 01/26/2021, and any and all data on the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered from 12/11/2020 to 01/26/2021. We responded to you on February 10, 2021 to let you know additional time would be required to process your request due to the need to search for and collect the requested records from establishments separate from the office processing the request as well as to compile the electronic documents through computer programming . We notified you at that time that CDPH would let you know by February 24, 2021 whether records will be disclosed and, if not, the basis for the determination. CDPH has identified records that are at least partially responsive to your requests. We are currently in the process of reviewing these records for any applicable exemptions and/or redactions necessary prior to disclosure. As such, this request will require additional time to process. We hope to provide you with an update in approximately two weeks. As a reminder, if your request asks for information subject to the various privacy laws that apply to CDPH records, we will need to redact or withhold records. Some records may be subject to other exemptions under the Public Records Act, such as exemptions for records reflecting attorney work product or attorney-client privileged communications (Evid. Code, § 954), specific exemptions under federal or state law, and records that reveal the deliberative process of the leadership of CDPH (these exemptions are in the PRA at Gov. Code, § 6254, subd. (k), and Gov. Code, § 6255). Other exemptions may also apply. Thank you, Matt Conens

RE: Public Records Act Request, Reference Number P011772 Dear Joshua Eaton, On January 31, 2021, the Department of Public Health (CDPH) received your request for the following records under the Public Records Act:
* any and all data on the number of wasted, spoiled or expired COVID-19 vaccine doses from 12/11/2020 to 01/26/2021, and any and all data on the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered from 12/11/2020 to 01/26/2021. We responded to you on February 10, 2021 to let you know additional time would be required to process your request due to the need to search for and collect the requested records from establishments separate from the office processing the request as well as to compile the electronic documents through computer programming. We notified you at that time that CDPH would let you know by February 24, 2021 whether records will be disclosed and, if not, the basis for the determination. On February 24, 2021, CDPH notified you that we had identified records that are at least partially responsive to your requests. We noted that we would need additional time to review these records for any applicable exemptions and/or redactions necessary prior to disclosure. We have now identified all responsive records and evaluated such for applicable exemptions. To that end, we are producing the following records: (“Record A”) Total Vaccine Doses Administered All vaccine administration data is stored in the CAIR2 registry. A query was run in the SAS system to show the number of doses administered during your specified time-period of December 11, 2020 through January 26, 2021. This query generated the result in Record “A”. Wastage and Non-Viable Excursion Reports (Records “B” through “E”)

* “Record B” – WuFoo report on doses that were reported as spoiled, expired, or wasted within your specified time period.
* “Record C” – Wufoo report on doses that were exposed to temperature excursions which deemed them non-useable according to the manufacturer’s stability requirements within your time period.
* “Record D” – myCAVax report on doses that were wasted through January 26, 2021. “Record E” – report combining data reported via both the WuFoo and myCAVax reporting systems for vaccine doses that were expired, wasted, or spoiled. Wastage: Guidelines for wastage determination and reporting wastage were posted by CDPH in the last week of January 2021. As such, not all approved providers received notice of the guidelines during the time frame for which you have requested records. As a practical implication, the only wastage data produced herewith is from approved providers who proactively and voluntarily provided the information to CDPH. “Record B” is an export of wastage reports from approved providers from the WuFoo Forms survey software system that was launched as a reporting mechanism in late January 2021. It is important to note that the WuFoo Forms system was not promoted as CDPH was working on launching a centralized reporting system (myCAVax). As of January 26, 2021, only ten provider sites – out of the thousands that had been approved – had reported wastage events. Note that WuFoo Forms did not capture the date of wastage, only the date the wastage report was created by the provider. On February 8, 2021 myCAVax introduced functionality that allowed providers to report vaccine wastage into that system. There were some providers that voluntarily chose to retroactively input wastage information once this feature went live. Retroactive reporting was not required. Reports made via myCAVax in February 2021 for past wastage events that fell within your requested time frame can be found in “Record D”. Note that wastage reporting became mandatory only after such reporting was enabled in myCAVax. Temperature Excursions: “Record C” contains all provider reports submitted as part of the Department’s vaccine storage and handling incident reporting system which resulted in vaccines being considered non-viable or unsupported by the vaccine manufacturers based on the temperature excursion information reported. Excursion reporting via WuFoo Forms began in late December 2021 (note that there were different WuFoo reporting forms for storage incidents and wastage incidents). Storage incident reports were submitted by approved provider locations each time vaccines were exposed to temperatures outside of the recommended range. However, as use of this reporting system was not heavily publicized nor mandatory, only those approved providers who proactively and voluntarily provided excursion information to CDPH appear on the provided spreadsheets. Not all providers noted the number of doses affected by the temperature excursion in WuFoo Forms and this is reflected in “Record C”. Note that storage and handling excursion incident reporting became mandatory only after such reporting was enabled in myCAVax. Comprehensive Report: The most complete accounting of COVID-19 vaccines that were wasted, spoiled, expired, or subject to temperature excursions that deemed that non-useable per manufacturer’s specifications during your requested time period is provided in “Record E” which combines all provider reported incidents from both the WuFoo and myCAVax systems during your stated time period. Note that this list excludes reported temperature excursions where the manufacturer’s stability determination was that the doses could still be used. Further, the blank fields in “Record E” reflect omissions from the provider’s reporting, not redactions made by CDPH. Further Resources For further reference, please review the links below. For the COVID-19 vaccine dashboard: https://covid19.ca.gov/vaccines/#California-vaccines-dashboard (https://u8387778.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=6HtRfOYLt5fXvpttM-2FU1HYi5DOrvTv4Nqh3hgRlSUVrhgErxBfhPgA-2B4Pfi-2Fs90PCN-2B-2B1rnyU51fTqnFgyhJA7HgQtTF3vZtznaMt5yKUYE-3D5HuQ_MWLBoCXTD77AR8o9T5-2FBlOMBdw0HTFdbeHuSD1r-2BUcLQZk9s06dptpT3hPuqPZggzl6QeBMQYFvkHESR0-2FYTOcnrq6N5kZcniVAw5yjPghRHjmPoPz3pM8HN9b06tllPsKSS2zpsmrc6wzQM6T1srORRCDUY21k68TCM8Yy8ZE1Fmwzkp5i9qi0GdrrWiSdpjBXGIs-2BFGC9KyZJrS3NCS3N-2F-2FUFsrMyKeiHrIBA6oyw83bQqVhmTHFpfUaU1ahQHk-2BF5QNGu71WYm16o6WCzBgJKNq-2Fv7PdLYa-2F3vdvo4VM3eMv7daxFqe6m6hFGH1h6nj1KNBUkOVvxDqBMCIb-2BE1pH8PDYIouY243f3eVssVuXlQj6jKq9AOFeZ45N1FvH-2BeqmUa7GEphPYJ8jFimFMA-3D-3D) For information regarding vaccine wastage: https://eziz.org/covid/vaccine-management/ (https://u8387778.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=6HtRfOYLt5fXvpttM-2FU1HeoU7Re3mhUgFHuScLC-2FmeAw-2FHh-2Fjd7tqLhuCotFoPgXhnoYp96Z5XiPYghNo5SeLQ-3D-3DqChJ_MWLBoCXTD77AR8o9T5-2FBlOMBdw0HTFdbeHuSD1r-2BUcLQZk9s06dptpT3hPuqPZggzl6QeBMQYFvkHESR0-2FYTOcnrq6N5kZcniVAw5yjPghRHjmPoPz3pM8HN9b06tllPsKSS2zpsmrc6wzQM6T1srORRCDUY21k68TCM8Yy8ZE1Fmwzkp5i9qi0GdrrWiSdpjBXGIs-2BFGC9KyZJrS3NCS3N-2F-2FUFsrMyKeiHrIBA6oyyAghhd9kcUNsnwlQN-2BR6XkF8-2F7g-2BmcOn-2BxXSPGVQ6fg-2BWMFqCvJcB5NZaO69CJ-2BkYOD1ILds0TDyBeSTMWEwxMdwlVLcQGeJpldobbutQ6DUrOfGhM4IcJVQMk-2F8ZMTR340dl0GZnd8vaPC3Hnv9odnv8cBvwHe407nH10mLHUAA-3D-3D) This concludes the CDPH response to this request. Thank you, Matt Conens