Update: Although state officials initially said the doses would be dropped at 4:18 pm, almost three hours after the publication of this story, Vermont Department of Health spokesman Ben Truman said state officials they were arguing with Moderna if doses could still. , to be used. Seven days will update this story further as more information becomes available.
The state of Vermont will rule out 860 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine – nearly 1 percent of all doses received so far – because of a storage problem at Springfield Hospital, officials said on Wednesday.
Dosages of the Moderna vaccine were apparently stored just above the maximum allowed temperature, prompting the manufacturer to order them to be discarded due to concern for their viability, Human Services Secretary Mike Smith said during a regularly scheduled news conference.
According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vials of the Modern vaccine should be refrigerated at temperatures between 2 degrees and 8 degrees Celsius.
“It was 9 degrees at Springfield Hospital,” said Smith.
“I don’t have all the details,” he continued, seeming to be reading a statement sent to him minutes earlier by text message. “This is unfortunate because we have had minimal doses – I mean minimal – wasted in this state.”
Vermont had missed less than 30 doses of the vaccine last week, said health commissioner Mark Levine. The newly revealed deterioration represents a much more significant part.
The announcement of the deterioration was apparently new to Springfield Hospital officials, who were awaiting guidance from the Vermont Department of Health when Smith revealed that the doses would need to be dropped.
Anna Smith, the hospital’s vice president of marketing and development, said Seven days that the hospital’s pharmacy called the health department on Tuesday to confirm the temperature readings, which led to the discovery of a “discrepancy”.
“Our equipment said it was within range, but the equipment it was registering at the state level was reading something different,” she said.
State officials called Springfield on Wednesday morning and told them to cancel a vaccination clinic that was scheduled to start in 30 minutes, Smith said. She was unable to confirm who was scheduled to receive the shots. Vermont opened vaccination clinics for people aged 75 and over on Wednesday.
The doses had not yet been discarded after noon. “We are waiting to hear from [the health department] now, “said Smith, minutes after the announcement of the press conference.
Shortly after 1 pm, the hospital issued a statement saying it had canceled the clinic “out of caution” due to the discrepancy in temperature readings.
“Two hospital monitors recorded the temperature within an acceptable range, and the Vermont state monitor registered 0.1 degree above the range,” the statement said.
Levine said the state has “exquisite” sensors in refrigeration equipment to identify any problems. “In any type of major vaccination program, these things happen,” he said.
Levine said the state is putting plans in place to ensure that vaccinations for affected individuals are rescheduled quickly. About 400 of the missed doses have been programmed to be used as a second injection in Moderna’s two-dose vaccination regimen.
Almost 900 doses were wasted out of the 96,825 that the state received. “This is still not a high percentage,” said Levine.