PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Two Portland hospitals threw out more than three dozen doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in all, and state health officials were initially unaware of the missed injections, according to a report.
Oregon Health & Science University missed 15 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine after one bottle broke and two were mixed incorrectly, reported The Oregonian / OregonLive Wednesday Legacy Health wasted 27 doses when it was unable to find health care professionals to get the surplus vaccine before it expired. The vaccine must be kept at ultra-low temperatures to be effective and must be administered quickly.
Missed doses reflect only 0.07% of vaccines administered in Oregon so far.
It is not clear whether doses in other parts of Oregon have been missed.
The Oregon Health Authority said it learned of the missed doses from the newspaper and then confirmed them with OHSU and Legacy, despite Legacy saying it had previously reported the information to the state as required.
The state reported on Wednesday 764 new confirmed or suspected cases of coronavirus and eight more deaths.
More than 60,000 doses have been administered, but almost 75% of the doses delivered to the state – some 225,000 – have not yet reached the arms of Oregon residents. Governor Kate Brown ordered 12,000 vaccines a day by the end of next week, but the state is still far short of that target with 2,800 doses administered on Wednesday.