1,900 Moderna vaccine doses destroyed after cleaner accidentally unplugged freezer in Boston

“The reconstitution doses are underway,” said one expert.

Thousands of doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine were destroyed after a Boston cleaner accidentally unplugged the freezer they were stored in.

“On Tuesday, January 19, 2021, staff at the VA Boston Pharmacy discovered that a freezer on the Jamaica Plain campus had broken down. As a result, 1900 doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine stored in the freezer were compromised,” he said. Kyle Toto, the public business specialist at VA Boston Healthcare System, said in a statement Thursday.

Doses of Moderna vaccine arrive at their designated facilities frozen between -13 and 5 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They can then be stored frozen or stored in a refrigerator between 36 and 46 degrees Fahrenheit, up to 30 days before the vials are punctured.

Toto said the Boston pharmacy freezer “was in a safe location and had an alarm system installed. The outlet was found loose after a contractor accidentally removed it during cleanup.”

He said they were investigating the reasons for the incident and why the alarm system did not work as it was supposed to.

“Reconstitution doses are underway and we do not plan to interrupt our vaccination effort,” Toto added.

ABC News’s Kendall Coughlin contributed to this report.