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More than 1,100 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine DESTROYED in Florida after worker accidentally cut power to refrigerator in mobile vehicle where they were stored
- Palm Beach health worker accidentally cut off power to refrigerator where Pfizer vaccines were stored
- Pfizer vaccine must be stored in the refrigerator in order to preserve some of its components or it becomes unnecessary.
- The error resulted in the destruction of 232 vials of vaccine – consisting of 1160 doses –
- A Palm Beach County official is now storing supplies in centralized refrigerators with a back-up generator to prevent such an incident from happening again
- Officials struggle to deliver COVID-19 vaccine to the U.S. population in a timely manner
- Only 6.9% of Americans received their first shot at Pfizer or Moderna; only 1.4% of citizens are fully vaccinated
- This is worrying news given that highly contagious mutations of the virus from the UK, Brazil and South Africa have now been detected on US soil.
More than 1,100 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine were destroyed in Florida after a healthcare worker accidentally turned off a refrigerator that was keeping injections cool.
Palm Beach County Health Care District employees discovered the error Friday morning during a “ quality assurance check ” before the vaccines were administered.
Pfizer vaccine should be stored at -70 degrees Fahrenheit in order to preserve some of its components, but they can be transferred to a regular refrigerator five days before administration. If left on longer – or exposed to warmer temperatures – they will degrade and become ineffective.
It is not known how the worker managed to cut power to the refrigerator, which was inside a mobile vehicle.
More than 1,100 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine were destroyed in Florida after a worker accidentally cut power to a refrigerator that kept injections cool
Residents of assisted living facility in Florida expect Pfizer vaccine earlier this month
In a statement released Friday, Palm Beach County officials stressed that this was a “ unique and isolated incident caused by human error ” and insisted “ it absolutely did no impact on patient safety. ”
In light of the incident, officials have implemented “additional guarantees” and will now “centralize all vaccine supplies in a secure location with a 24/7 back-up generator.”
The county says the damaged vaccines, which made up 232 vials – or about 1,160 doses – were safely destroyed.
The blunder comes as Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla revealed on Friday that his company is trying to speed up development of future vaccines within 100 days, warning that there is a ‘strong possibility’ that the vaccines are not permanently effective.
Bourla said Pfizer intended to move from recognizing a disease threat to getting a licensed vaccine in less than 100 days – even shorter than the 300-day target set by the last year by the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed.
COVID-19 vaccinations have been developed at record speed, due to technological advancements, massive funding and the public’s willingness to participate in the trials.
However, there have been widespread delays with the deployment of the vaccine to the general American public.
Based on current data, only 6.9% of Americans have received their first of two Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccines.
Only 1.4% of citizens have received both doses and are now fully vaccinated.
The statistics are concerning given fears that new mutant variants of the coronavirus may be crawling undetected in the United States.
There are now over 350 reported cases of “super covid” in the United States from the three strains that were first detected in Brazil, the United Kingdom and South Africa.
Mutations are said to be up to 70% more contagious and could be 30% more deadly.
The wide spread of these strains could overwhelm the hospital system and lead to a dramatic increase in deaths.
Already, the United States has reported more than 25.9 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country and more than 435,000 deaths in total.
Just one Friday, 165,339 new cases, 3,503 new deaths were added to the tally.
More than 101,000 Americans are still hospitalized and treated for the virus.
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