Across the nation, concern is mounting over the potential for hundreds of thousands of Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses to be thrown away. 

That's the case for several parts of the country, including Erie. State health officials have noted that several J&J doses will expire near the end of the month and will not be able to be used, meaning upwards of over a million doses that will be discarded.

Locally, hospital leaders are somewhat concerned that J&J doses could also have to be gotten rid of as well. It's simply unlikely that staff will be able to use each vial in time.

June 23rd is the day in which some of the Johnson & Johnson supply will expire for local hospitals. 

"I think that you're going to have a small portion of the J&J in the grand scheme of things that's probably going to expire, unless we get information that we can extend that storage", said Jason Chenault, Director of Emergency Services at UPMC Hamot. "There are very strict storage protocols. Johnson and Johnson is probably the least restrictive as far as the temperatures that it has to be stored at. There is a potential that you're going to see some of that Johnson and Johnson expiring."

The good news for people who still want to be vaccinated who haven't been yet? This shouldn't affect your chances of getting a vaccine. 

At this point, supply outweighs demand. "I don't necessarily think that it's going to translate to people not being able to get vaccinated, though", noted Chenault."

Demand has dropped in previous weeks, local hospital leaders say. They believe it's part of the reason as to why some doses may have to go to waste. 

"At this point in the game with the supply and demand curves flipping a bit, that demand isn't quite there like it was a few months ago", said Stephen Henderson, AHN Saint Vincent's Pharmacy Director. "Always something that we're trying to do is minimize the amount of waste that is possible, but there is that possibility that we will have to waste some of that vaccine that remains."

What else caused this potential mass throw-away? It could be the temporary pause on J&J distribution that occurred in April.

Epidemiologist and Erie News Now Contributor Dr. Becky Dawson believes that 11 day vaccine hiatus could have been a catalyst for local residents wanting the J&J dose less and less, despite its effectiveness. 

"The J & J situation for some people really showed them that the government is taking safety really seriously, that they paused after just a couple of events. Other people aid this is too much", Dawson said. "But we're at the place where it's going to take a lot of work to get people who are hesitant to get in the doors and get these shots in their arms."

So, for the next two weeks, it's a race to vaccinate as many as possible before a percentage of J&J doses can no longer be used. Hospital leaders say this will be a difficult task, but feel the vaccine has many advantages in preventing the virus.