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Update: While state officials initially said the doses would be thrown away, at 4:18 p.m., nearly three hours after this article was published, Vermont Department of Health spokesman Ben Truman said state officials were talking to Moderna about whether the doses could still, in fact. , to be used. Seven days will update this story as more information becomes available.
The state of Vermont will reject 860 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine – nearly 1% of all doses received to date – due to a storage issue at the Springfield hospital, officials said Wednesday.
Moderna vaccine doses have apparently been stored slightly above the maximum allowable temperature, prompting the manufacturer to order them to be discarded due to concerns about their viability, said Human Services Secretary Mike Smith. during a regularly scheduled press conference.
According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Moderna vaccine vials should be refrigerated at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius.
“It was 9 degrees at the Springfield hospital,” Smith said.
“I don’t have all the details,” he continued, appearing to read a statement that had been sent to him a few minutes earlier by text. “It’s unfortunate because we’ve had minimal – I mean minimal – wasted in this state.”
Vermont had lost less than 30 doses of the vaccine last week, Health Commissioner Mark Levine said. The newly revealed deterioration is a much larger part.
The news of the deterioration was apparently news to officials at the Springfield hospital, who were awaiting advice from the Vermont Department of Health when Smith revealed the doses should be discarded.
Anna Smith, vice president of marketing and hospital development, said Seven days that the hospital pharmacy called the health department Tuesday night to confirm the temperature readings, which led to the discovery of a “gap”.
“Our equipment said it was in range, but the equipment recording it at the state level was reading something different,” she said.
State officials called Springfield on Wednesday morning and told them to cancel a vaccination clinic that was due to start in 30 minutes, Smith said. She could not confirm who had been programmed to receive beatings. Vermont opened immunization clinics for people 75 and over on Wednesday.
The doses had not yet been rejected by noon. “We are awaiting news from [the health department] now, ”Smith said, minutes after the news conference was announced.
Shortly after 1 p.m., the hospital issued a statement saying it had canceled the clinic “out of caution” due to the discrepancy in temperature readings.
“Two hospital monitors recorded the temperature within an acceptable range, and the Vermont state monitor recorded 0.1 degrees above the range,” the statement said.
Levine said the state has “exquisite” sensors on refrigeration equipment to identify any problems. “In any type of large immunization program, these things happen,” he said.
Levine said the state is making plans to ensure vaccinations for those affected are postponed quickly. Approximately 400 wasted doses have been set for use as the second injections in the two-dose Moderna vaccination schedule.
Almost 900 doses were wasted out of 96,825 the state received. “It’s still not a high percentage,” Levine said.
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