Gel packs linked to ‘potentially compromised’ COVID-19 vaccines in states: officials

Gel packs used to maintain the temperature of the COVID-19 vaccine during transport are again in question amid potentially ruined jabs.

As states clamor for more supplies, shipments of the Moderna vaccine arrived at sites in off-limit temperatures, affecting 4,400 doses in Maine and another 11,900 in Michigan earlier this week.

According to Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control (CDC), the two instances involve the same distributor – McKesson – and Moderna and federal officials are working on a comprehensive analysis of the implications for vaccine viability.

BIDEN PLAN TO REOPEN SCHOOLS SUBJECT TO POTENTIAL CHANGES IN CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, OFFICIAL SAYS

NC National Guard on Dec. 30 tweeted: “#NCNG received the first Moderna COVID-19 vaccine allocation. Our doctors will begin providing voluntary vaccines to the guards who are currently supporting our state’s # COVID19NC response efforts after completing the vaccine prescribing training within the next week. ”
(NC National Guard)

“This phenomenon of certain doses arriving outside the temperature range has occurred not only in Maine but also in some other states, for example Michigan,” Shah said in a virtual briefing Thursday.

Shipments are accompanied by a temperature monitoring device to track temperatures during transport. Shah said the boxes arrived in Maine with a “red X” instead of a “green check mark.”

McKesson previously told Fox News he learned of the issue on Monday and pinned the issue among faulty gel packs used to keep doses cold.

“We also identified the root cause of the problem – some of the gel packs used to maintain proper temperatures during shipping were found to be too cold – and took steps to prevent this from happening again in the future,” one reads in a release from McKesson. .

Moderna’s vaccine is stable at minus 20 degrees Celsius, but cannot dive to storage temperatures below minus 40 degrees Celsius. Once refrigerated, it can last 30 days between 2 degrees Celsius and 8 degrees Celsius. Vials cannot be refrozen once thawed.

McKesson told the US CDC and Operation Warp Speed ​​that “the gel packs weren’t left out to be thawed at the proper temperature, but were just thrown into the boxes,” according to Shah. “So the operating assumption at the present time is that the temperature overshoot was on the low end, not the high end,” but until an investigation is completed, officials will not. will not know for sure, he added.

GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Replacement doses have already been shipped to both states, but not without some delays in appointments.

None of the vaccines in question have been administered, Shah said, but instead they are kept roped up in a frozen warehouse until scientists green light the vaccines as safe and effective to use.

“Being too cold increases the chances that the vaccines that were delivered to Maine, those 4,400 doses could eventually be used,” Shah said. “This is because vaccines of this type are generally more stable in cold environments.”

Overall, Maine has administered more than 92,000 doses and more than 17,000 people in the state have already received their second dose.