With COVID-19 vaccines still in high demand, New Hanover County health officials say they’ve thrown out less than five doses of the vaccine. That’s compared to almost 50,000 administered by the public health department. Overall, North Carolina has had to throw out around 5,700 vaccines out of more than 4 million received, said Bailey Pennington, communications specialist for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. The state department recommends no vaccine doses be wasted, and encourages local health departments to have an "on call" list of those available to receive a vaccine to ensure doses are administered if there are any leftovers due to no-show or cancelled appointments.