More than 2,400 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been missed in Tennessee’s most populous county since the beginning of this month, state health officials confirmed this week.
The Tennessee Department of Health confirmed the thousands of missed doses as part of an investigation launched last week. The investigation followed reports that more than 1,000 doses of vaccine expired before they could be administered in Shelby County, which includes Memphis.
The state health department found that the Shelby County Health Department wasted more than 2,400 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in seven separate “incidents” dating back to February 3, the department confirmed in a statement on Tuesday.
One of the incidents, which resulted in hundreds of vaccines expiring, was due to the winter storms that hit the state earlier this month, which delayed inoculations.
The health department also confirmed that Shelby County health officials had approximately 51,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in their inventory, almost 30,000 more doses than they should have stocked to plan several weeks of distribution.
Excess doses are not expected to expire until the beginning of next month, Tennessee health commissioner Lisa Piercey confirmed at a news conference on Tuesday.
“It is important that we get this right for the population of Shelby County and the state as a whole, while working to ensure equitable and efficient distribution of this life-saving vaccine to Tennesseans in all communities, especially the most vulnerable and needy. ”Piercey said in Tuesday’s statement.
As a result of the investigation, Shelby County health officials will no longer be allowed to distribute COVID-19 vaccines. Instead, Memphis city officials, hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and other partners will distribute the vaccines.
The state investigation also resulted in layoffs.
State health officials found that Shelby County Health Department officials did not have direct access to the vaccine supply. Only one pharmacist, who is not an employee of Shelby County, but was contractually employed, had direct access to vaccines.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris (D) announced Tuesday that the city fired the site manager of the health department who was responsible for overseeing the relationship with the hired pharmacist. The municipality also requested that the pharmacist be removed from the vaccine administration.
Tennessee health officials administered at least 767,826 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, constituting approximately 11.2 percent of the state’s population, according to a panel from The Washington Post.