When the trucks arrived at 35 locations across Maine on Monday, workers opened them to inspect hundreds of vials of the Modern vaccine – another major shipment in the state’s efforts to inoculate coronavirus residents.
© Michael S. Williamson / The Washington Post
A syringe is loaded with a coronavirus vaccine at the Fairfax County Government Center on January 2.
But when they looked at the electronic thermometers outside the boxes, they quickly encountered a problem: a red “X” on the screens of the monitors, alerting them that the bottles had broken due to inadequate temperatures at some point along the trip.
Now, the state announced Tuesday, it may have to throw out 4,400 doses.
“It is always unfortunate when logistical problems of this nature arise, but it is also good to remember that the system has these safeguards so that, if they happen, we know about them immediately,” Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement. Collective interview.
The news came on the same day that authorities in Michigan announced that an even larger shipment of the Modern vaccine, containing nearly 12,000 doses, was ruined by temperature control problems during the shipment, as reported by the Detroit Free Press.
These findings led to separate investigations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Moderna and a distributor to determine exactly how and why the bottles were destroyed.
“We are tracking some incidents of temperature readings outside the acceptable range,” Kristen Nordlund, a spokeswoman for the CDC, told The Post by email. “In all instances, the process worked – the shipment was inspected and replaced as needed, while any additional security reviews were conducted.”
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Both cases highlight one of the ongoing logistical problems in the distribution of vaccines against coronavirus, which must be stored between -25 degrees Celsius and -15 degrees Celsius (-13 and 5 degrees Fahrenheit), according to CDC guidelines.
In late December, a hospital outside Milwaukee was forced to launch hundreds of doses of vaccine when a pharmacist “admitted to intentionally removing the vaccine from refrigeration,” the hospital said. In New York, healthcare professionals had to drop vaccine doses in recent weeks after struggling to find recipients that met the state’s eligibility criteria.
Vaccine implantation continues to be delayed throughout the country, as the states, oppressed by the high demand and lack of supply, struggle to inoculate millions of residents. On Tuesday, 68,914 Maine residents received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine – 5.1 percent of the state’s population, according to the Post’s vaccine tracker. The state received 134,000 first doses.
As of Tuesday, 420,144 Michigan residents had received the first dose of the vaccine, which represented 4.2% of the population who received the first dose, according to the Post’s vaccine tracker. Michigan received 947,000 first doses.
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Maine officials learned of the potentially compromised vaccines on Monday morning, when vaccination sites called to report that the tracking thermometers on the boxes indicated that “the required minimum temperature had been exceeded,” said Shah.
At the end of the day, Shah said, 35 of the 50 sites that received the Modern vaccine that day reported temperature problems. Places that were unable to use the vaccines should receive replacement doses on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Shah.
In Michigan, authorities have learned in the past few days about thousands of ruined doses through McKesson Corp., a health distribution company charged with sending coronavirus vaccines to the state. The bottles, which were dispatched on Sunday, “had their temperature reported to be out of range and getting very cold,” the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
The discovery sparked an investigation by McKesson, who said the company learned on Monday that certain deliveries of Modern vaccines sent on Sunday “arrived at administration sites colder than the lower end of the manufacturer’s stated temperature range.”
“McKesson is replacing these vaccines,” David Matthews, a company spokesman, told The Post by email. We also identified the root cause of the problem – some of the gel packs used to maintain proper temperatures during transport were found to be too cold – and we took steps to prevent this from happening in the future. ”
Vaccines are currently in quarantine, added Matthews, “awaiting a determination on whether they are viable.”
A review of doses scheduled for shipment on Monday, McKesson told The Post, found that a “small percentage of these shipments were also affected by the gel pack problem”. The company has not dispatched these doses and is expected to replace them within the next 24 hours, said Matthews.
A spokesman for the state health department told the Free Press that no one received an injection with the spoiled doses of the vaccine.
Most of the replacement shipments were shipped on Monday night, with the rest expected to arrive on Tuesday, according to the state health department.
“While it is a pity that this vaccine cannot be used, we are pleased that the safeguards put in place to ensure the integrity of the vaccine have worked,” said Joneigh Khaldun, Michigan’s chief medical officer and deputy director of health. “This is the first report of a potentially compromised vaccine during shipping to Michigan and we are working quickly with the distributor to get the replacement vaccine shipped.”
At a news conference on Tuesday, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) said she was frustrated by the news that vaccines had to be discarded.
“I know we are in a race and all vaccines are important,” said Whitmer. “But this is not something that I can control. It is not the fault of the state of Michigan. … This is part of the rugged road that we all live across the country. ”
Carolyn Johnson contributed to this report.
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