On Sunday night, the California Department of Public Health issued a recommendation to discontinue the administration of the Moderna vaccine for batch 41L20A, which was associated with an exceptionally high number of allergic reactions. Two separate mass vaccination clinics in Mendocino County used the specific batch from Moderna that the CDPH warned health officials about.
Mendocino County facilitated a clinic on January 7 held at the Redwood Empire Fair Groups in Ukiah, where 100 doses of the Moderna batch were administered.
A press release issued by Mendocino County stated that “no adverse reactions occurred” due to the County vaccine event. The press released quoted Mendocino County Vaccine Coordinator Adrienne Thompson as saying: “The county team will contact all 100 individuals who received a vaccine with this batch number to [alert] they recall. “
As previously reported, 100 other residents of Mendocino County along the coast were inoculated with the batch collected on Sunday, January 17, during a mass vaccination event organized by Adventist Health Mendocino Coast.
Adventist Health Public Information Officer Cici Winiger emphasized that “none of the patients who received the Modern vaccine on the Costa de Mendocino had adverse reactions.”
To ensure patient safety, Winiger said the Adventist Health team is “reaching out to these patients to check on their well-being. There were no complications or serious reactions reported at this time. “
As of Monday morning, initial information obtained from Mendocino County CEO Carmel Angelo and vaccine coordinator Adrienne Thompson said the county’s COVID-19 vaccine stock did not include the batch of Moderna collected. Mendocino County issued a press release stating this.
Then, at approximately 9 pm Monday, the county sent a corrected press release that revealed information about the administration of the lot collected on January 7 at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds.
Incorporated in the corrected press release was a series of statements that clarify why information about the administration of the Moderna lot in Mendocino County came from various entities.
Regarding vaccine tracking, the press release stated that “Public Health in the Municipality of Mendocino is responsible only for the quota of vaccines distributed by the State to Public Health”.
The press release explains that several entities in the county (Public Health, Adventist Health, Pharmacies, Indigenous Health Clinics) receive vaccines and are responsible for “administering, tracking and reporting all vaccine data to the state”.
Revealing the opaque nature of vaccine distribution supervision, Mendocino County Vaccine Coordinator Adrienne Thompson said: “Mendocino County does not have access to vaccine information or batch numbers. However, these other vaccine suppliers continue to review their Moderna inventory to compare their batch numbers with the batch identified by the state in question. “
Based on this information, it is unclear how many Mendocino County residents were inoculated with Moderna 41L20A lot or whether there are more doses of the lot in Mendocino County
Previously: Approximately 100 residents of the Mendocino coast administered a batch of Modern vaccines that were discontinued because of allergic reactions higher than normal; No adverse reactions reported locally
