Three shipments of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine were delayed in distribution after it was discovered that they did not maintain a stable temperature in transit.
All three shipments arrived in Texas last week and were originally scheduled to be delivered before Christmas.
It was unclear how many total doses were affected, although the federal government has replaced shipments, Bloomberg News reported.
Moderna’s vaccine requires storage at temperatures between minus 13 degrees and 5 degrees Fahrenheit or between 36 degrees and 46 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 30 days before being discarded.
The Texas State Department of Health Services said the delays created the appearance that the state administered only a small portion of the vaccines it received, according to Bloomberg.
“Some of the week 2 shipments were delayed and were not received by suppliers until
Monday and Tuesday this week, ”spokeswoman Lara Anton told Bloomberg.
Carrie Kroll, vice president for defense, quality and public health at the Texas Hospital Association, told Bloomberg that some Texas hospitals are experiencing problems with immunization screening.
“It will look like there is a vaccine on the shelf when it is actually administered,” Kroll
said.
The United States also faced other obstacles to reaching its goal of vaccinating 40 million Americans by the first week of January. Earlier this month, 50 vials of Moderna vaccine had to be thrown away in Wisconsin because a medical center employee did not return them to the storage freezer after initially removing them to remove another item.
As of Tuesday, nearly 11,445,000 doses of vaccine have been distributed in the United States and a total of 2,127,143 people have received their initial injection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.