Update: While state officials initially said the doses would be dropped at 4:18 p.m., nearly three hours after the story was published, Vermont Department of Health spokesman Ben Truman said state officials were talking to Moderna. if the doses can still be used. Seven days will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.
The state of Vermont will drop 860 doses of COVID-19 vaccine – nearly 1 percent of all doses received so far – due to a storage problem at Springfield Hospital, officials said Wednesday.
Moderna vaccine doses were apparently kept just above the maximum allowable temperature, prompting the manufacturer to order their disposal due to concerns about their viability, Human Services Secretary Mike Smith told a regular news conference. .
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Modern vaccine vials should be refrigerated at temperatures between 2 degrees and 8 degrees Celsius.
“It was 9 degrees at Springfield Hospital,” Smith said.
“I don’t have all the details,” he continued, appearing to read a statement sent to him a few minutes earlier via SMS. “This is unfortunate because we have had minimal – that is, minimal – wasted doses in this condition.”
Vermont has lost less than 30 doses of the vaccine since last week, said Health Commissioner Mark Levine. The recently revealed spread is a much more significant piece.
The announcement of the breakdown was apparently news to Springfield Hospital officials, who were awaiting guidance from the Vermont Department of Health when Smith revealed that the doses should be discarded.
Said Anna Smith, the hospital’s vice president of marketing and development Seven days that the hospital’s pharmacy called the health department late on Tuesday to confirm the temperature readings, which led to the discovery of a “discrepancy”.
“Our team said it was within range, but the state-level equipment read something different,” she said.
State officials called Springfield Wednesday morning and told them to cancel a vaccination clinic that was to begin in 30 minutes, Smith said. He could not confirm who had been shot. Vermont opened vaccination clinics for those over 75 on Wednesday.
The doses had not yet been dropped by noon. “We are waiting to find out [the health department] right now, “Smith said minutes after the press conference was announced.
Shortly after 1 p.m., the hospital issued a statement saying it had canceled the clinic “out of plenty of caution” because of the discrepancy between the 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 “refined” sensors on refrigeration equipment to identify any problems. “In any big vaccination program, these things happen,” he said.
Levine said the state is developing plans to ensure that vaccinations of those affected are rescheduled quickly. Approximately 400 wasted doses have been established for use as second shots in the Modern Two-Dose Vaccination Regime.
Nearly 900 doses were wasted out of 96,825 received by the state. “It’s not a high percentage yet,” Levine said.