8,900 doses of Michigan Modern vaccine that got too cold during transport OK for use, says state

The 8,900 doses of the Michigan Modern vaccine that it got really cold during transport were considered OK for use, state officials said.

On January 19, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced several shipments of the Modern vaccine that were shipped on January 17 left the recommended temperature range.

Health company McKesson notified the MDHHS of the problem. McKesson completed an internal investigation and determined the cause of the problem with the 21 shipments, officials said.

Based on the information collected during the investigation, Moderna decided that doses were still viable on arrival.

The doses are still usable because they were stored in quarantine at -20 degrees Celsius or were stored in quarantine at 2-8 degrees Celsius and placed in cold storage in 30 days, according to the state.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that doses can still be used to vaccinate Michiganders.

“We are pleased to be able to use these vaccines to protect Michiganders from the virus as we work to achieve our goal of vaccinating 70% of Michiganders over 16 as quickly as possible with the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine,” said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, MDHHS chief medical officer. “These safeguards are put in place to ensure the integrity of the vaccine and, based on the research that has been carried out, these vaccines can now be used.

Vaccines are sent to vaccine suppliers across the state by manufacturers and distributors, not by MDHHS. Each shipment is equipped with a temperature monitoring device during transport.