Federal authorities invaded Shelby County, Tennessee, this week, while the mismanagement disasters that plagued the launch of the local coronavirus vaccine reached a boiling point.
The county health department allowed more than 2,000 doses to spoil, two children were vaccinated against the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a volunteer allegedly ran away with doses from a location. The Tennessee Department of Health, the FBI and the CDC are now investigating. Shelby’s health department head, Alisa Haushalter, resigned on Friday.
Now residents are questioning whether the doses they received were expired doses.
“You start to feel safe to go out and do things, but now you don’t know if you’re covered or not. You don’t know whether the injection you received was effective or not, ”said Gayle Jones, 80, who was born and raised in Cordova, Tennessee. She received her second injection of the Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday. “We lost an entire year by staying at home. We finally felt that we could go out and maybe be fine. “
Hundreds of people are echoing their statements on Facebook in comments on county health department bulletins.
Ingrid Chilton, 68, vented her frustration below a post: “Let’s talk about the thousands of Memphians who don’t know if they were properly vaccinated, as the thawing of the vaccines was not done according to the CDC guidelines!”
Chilton and her 75-year-old husband flew from their home in Tiburon, California, to visit their son in downtown Memphis for two weeks in late February 2020. They stayed for a year, living in the same two weeks of clothing. Saturday would be the day they would achieve full immunity, two weeks after the second dose of Pfizer. She and her husband started to argue when they would return to Tiburon.
“Today was the day that I was supposed to be celebrating, like ‘We’re free!’ and, instead, we get it. I feel like we’re in limbo again, ”she told The Daily Beast.
The state began investigating the county health department last week after an announcement that the county had allowed 1,300 doses to expire in February. State investigators found that, in fact, 2,400 doses spoiled this month and were destroyed, with 840 wasted in one day, February 15. Although vaccines require ultra-cool storage to remain viable, some syringes were hot to the investigator’s touch, Tennessean reported.
To increase the residents’ fear, some doses disappeared. State health commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said at a news conference on Friday that 12 syringes had expired during a February 23 vaccination event, but no one had returned them to the dispensing pharmacy. Doses were not counted.
“There seems to be a lack of responsibility and, in a sense, leadership, which undoubtedly has potentially harmed some people and removed the vaccine from those who need it,” said Piercey.
Jones hoped to feel safe watching the birth of two great-grandchildren soon. She thinks she will still go, although now with feelings of uncertainty and risk. Her daughter, son and two of her grandchildren had COVID-19. A granddaughter and a granddaughter are pregnant and work in the health field.
“We will have to accept it as it is. I don’t know if they will be able to prove whether the vaccine we received was real and effective or not, ”she said.
Chilton will postpone his trip until the investigation of the vaccination effort is complete.
“I don’t know if we will ever know precisely whether we are protected or not,” she said.
The Memphis City Department of Health has taken on vaccination efforts for the entire county.
In addition to its procedural problems, the vaccination effort suffered an alleged theft. The state notified the FBI on Thursday that a volunteer allegedly stole doses of the vaccine on February 3, according to Piercey. The state health commissioner said the city had not provided information on missing doses, which led to a delay of almost a month in disclosure. Shelby County Administrative Director Dwan Gilliom said Piercey was incorrect and the police were informed, but no arrests were made.
Two children were vaccinated in Shelby County on February 3 as well, according to Piercey. Neither the Modern vaccine nor Pfizer has been approved for children under 16, as the drug has only been tested in adults.
The mess has further eroded Jones’ confidence in the local government, which has struggled to collect garbage and provide water to residents in recent weeks.
“They just need to act together in the Memphis government. They are totally unreliable, ”said Jones. “We just put the water on to boil for 8 days because the entire power grid broke. You just think, ‘My God, can’t you do anything?’ “
Chilton feels the same way.
“I don’t think my feelings towards the county and state health department would be suitable for printing, frankly,” she said.