Two Portland hospital systems have ruled out more than three dozen doses of coronavirus vaccine, even when Oregon’s top health worker said his agency was unaware of missing vaccines.
Oregon Health & Science University missed 15 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine after one bottle broke and two were mixed inappropriately, a hospital spokeswoman said. Legacy Health missed 27 doses when it was unable to find healthcare professionals to get the surplus vaccine in the short time before it expired, a Legacy spokesman said.
Even so, the director of the Oregon Health Authority did not seem to know that a dose had been missed in Oregon.
“We have not received any reports of deterioration from sites that are administering the vaccine, and this is something we have followed,” said director Patrick Allen at a news conference on Tuesday. “Vaccines are being handled and administered in an appropriate and timely manner.”
The agency said it learned of missed doses with The Oregonian / OregonLive and later confirmed them with OHSU and Legacy, although Legacy said it had previously reported the information to the state as required.
“We will monitor and ensure that this waste is properly documented,” said health authority spokesman Jonathan Modie by email.
It is not clear whether other doses in Oregon were missed.
Missed doses reflect only 0.07% of the 55,000 vaccines administered in Oregon so far. And the missed doses were more than made up for by the unexpected extra doses that healthcare professionals found in full Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine bottles.
But the disconnect between reported hospital data and statements by health officials points to even more evidence of growing pains, as the state faces criticism for its slow rate of vaccination and plans to vaccinate 12,000 people a day soon.
The Oregon Health Authority said that a vaccine is expected to spoil in the process of such a massive vaccination project. Nothing yet points to the waste of vaccines through negligence, the agency said.
“We believe that our healthcare system partners are responsibly administering their vaccines and doing everything they can to minimize waste,” said Modie. “We saw no evidence that the vaccine is being treated less responsibly.”
Legacy missed doses because the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine sometimes has an extra dose or two per bottle, said spokesman Brian Terrett. This meant that Legacy employees would see the list of people scheduled for an injection before the bottles they had unpacked ran out.
But since doses have an expiration date measured in hours, not days, doses are missed if someone cannot be found to get the vaccine. Finding that person can be a challenge, said Terrett, because people need to be able to take time off if they experience side effects.
“Having more doses than expected affected our ability to schedule the team for their vaccine effectively,” said Terrett.
The hospital system reported its missed doses to a statewide vaccine tracking system, said Terrett.
OHSU pharmacists missed 15 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, said spokeswoman Tamara Hargens-Bradley. A bottle containing five doses broke, said Hargens-Bradley, and two bottles containing 10 combined doses were mixed incorrectly.
Hargens-Bradley did not say whether the hospital reported the missed doses to the state.
It is possible that OHSU and Legacy reported missed doses to a statewide vaccine tracking system, as required, but that the health authority was unaware of this.
“We will check (the state’s vaccine tracking system) and follow up as needed with these providers and with any providers that reported such losses,” said Modie.
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– Fedor Zarkhin
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