Vaccine needles - are they single use? or reusable?

[YogaLite]

Question for the vaccinators: with hundreds of thousands vaccinated each day, how are the needles dealt with?

If they are being reused, what process do they go in between uses?

Single use. They're incinerated like all medical waste.

I'm not a vaccinator but I don't think there are any needles used within the nhs that aren't single use.

You can't reuse needles

All needles are single use. I'm not a vaccinator but I've done plenty of horse injections - you never reuse a needle.

When you see the trays on the news dont they all have the needles ready to use. I'm not an expert but would it work to collect them all and re-sterilse etc, surely theyput them in those special bins

They are of course single use and put in sharps bins once used (the bright yellow boxes you see in all the news reports) These will be disposed of by incineration once full.

From what I've read it's single use syringes

All needles are single use. Not only would reusing them poss involve cross contamination but even a person only using needles for themselves would only use a needle once in case they blunt or get a blood in them

Even during my ivf if I didn't get all the medication in one shot I was told to change the head of the needle before reinjecting.

Theyll go in the sharps bin and incinerated like other medical waste

Donut!

They go straight in the sharps bin.

Single use. I’m a nurse and I couldn’t believe the level of waste when I first strained! But when you consider the cost of a healthcare acquired infection it doesn’t make sense to sterilise. Only equipment like the scopes used to do colonoscopies, some theatre equipment etc is reused.

Where in the world do they use reusable syringes?

Thank u experts
I recall nurses sterilising them in my young days (not UK).

If they are metal, they won't burn really so I guess they would be recycled as metal, however that gets picked out of the incinerator.

There has been research into whether it is possible to sterilise and reuse/recycle various types of medical waste.

I think in a lot of cases, it's not economically viable while maintaining hygiene.

Maybe if the needles are collected up in sharps bins, the metal is recycled into non medical grade steel. Eg it would be OK if it ended up as something like car parts, but not new needles.

Thank u for clarifying

@YogaLite

Thank u experts I recall nurses sterilising them in my young days (not UK).

If they are metal, they won't burn really so I guess they would be recycled as metal, however that gets picked out of the incinerator.

This information is many years out of date, but lumps of metal have to (or certainly used to) be raked out of the bottom of medical waste incinerators.

Reusable?! Are you joking

Reuseable needles went out of fashion even in very poor world in about 1978 when found to important reason why Ebola spread in one outbreak.

I have researched it a little more, sharps don't get incinerated, they go through autoclave process (decontamination by steam). I expect they are then recycled as metal.

Thank u all

There's no such thing as reusable needles.
Why did you think there was?

Where in the world do they use reusable syringes?

I'm told it still happens in some developing countries; a friend who works in aviation explained that the company provide syringes in case employees needing a shot find themselves in less than ideal facilities

When I was little the antibiotics were given to me as an injection and I recall nurses were decontaminating needles in a metal box, not sure if through boiling or steaming, definitely were reused back then (not UK).

So I just wondered how they are dealt with these days, especially in such massive amounts.

Happy to know they are single use.

@YogaLite

I have researched it a little more, sharps don't get incinerated, they go through autoclave process (decontamination by steam). I expect they are then recycled as metal.

Thank u all

That’s not correct. Sharps used for administration of medicines are put into yellow sharps bins and are incinerated.

My mum remembers needles being reused (UK, late 50s/early 60s) and hoping she got one that wasn’t too blunt.