Why Precious Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine Keep Getting Dumped

[riversedge]

Source: daily beast






“A little bit of me dies every time we hear about a dose that’s been lost.”



Published Jan. 20, 2021 5:37PM ET


An already beleaguered U.S. vaccine roll-out has hit a new snag: Thousands of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine around the country are being dumped after being stored at the wrong temperature.

More than 4,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine were wasted in Maine on Tuesday, when clinics opened their deliveries to find a red X on each of the vials, signifying that the vaccine had reached too high a temperature to be effective, according to the Portland Press Herald. That same day, the Detroit Free Press reported that providers in Michigan had the opposite problem: Nearly 12,000 doses were tossed because the vaccine had become too cold.
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Just Wednesday, the Ohio Department of Health suspended a provider from its vaccination program after the company let nearly 900 doses exceed the recommended temperature range. And hundreds of doses were ruined earlier this month in Colorado and Louisiana, after power outages in both states caused the storage refrigerators to shut down.

Moderna vaccines must be kept in the highly specific temperature range of minus-13 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit. The doses are shipped to distributors frozen, and can be kept at that temperature for up to six months, or in a refrigerator for up to 30 days. The Pfizer vaccine, which has not started shipping, requires even colder storage temperatures..........................

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-precious-doses-of-covid-19-vaccine-keep-getting-dumped?via=twitter_page

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and so more people die!!

Link to tweet

?s=20

[barbtries]

1. Pfizer vaccines have not started shipping?

they were the first ones out the door. I got my first shot on Saturday, it was the Pfizer vaccine.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Both are shipping

but I know our Health Director & Deputy Health Director here in Philly said this past Tuesday during a presser, that they were being directed differently - with the Pfizer vaccine going to the hospital systems here because they have the proper -70C freezers to handle it and the Moderna vaccine has been going to other facilities like pharmacies & clinics, etc.

However when it comes to something involving tight temperature range specs like we have with these vaccines, it means that the those freezers need to be properly calibrated and checked regularly and if there are facilities who aren't used to doing that (generally only handling routine "refrigerated" vaccines), then they will find themselves SOL.

Sadly I expect this is probably going to be happening quite a bit.

[barbtries]

6. that does make sense.

I'm a patient at Duke and that's where I got my vaccine. I didn't care really, I'd take either one.

[progree]

7. "then they will find themselves SOL." or WE will

However when it comes to something involving tight temperature range specs like we have with these vaccines, it means that the those freezers need to be properly calibrated and checked regularly and if there are facilities who aren't used to doing that (generally only handling routine "refrigerated" vaccines), then they will find themselves SOL.

Emphasis added by Progree. I'm worried about ones that don't do that as well as they should, and we get vaccinated with something that isn't effective. Or they see there has been a problem but the boss says we can't afford to dump them, so just keep quiet about it.

I'm actually deliriously happy -- in fact, gurgling in uttermost ecstasy -- when I read articles about vaccines being dumped for violating the temperature limits. What I worry about is the ones that haven't been dumped.

When I am vaccinated, I am going to be just as cautious as I am now, until the regional infection rate is down to tiny tiny trivial levels.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. I haven't delved into the investigations but

you might have seen the reports about the adverse reactions that some people experienced from a lot (or batch) of Moderna vaccine in California. So makes me wonder if temperature/handling might be a factor, but we shall see!

UPDATE: California pauses giving out shots from one lot of coronavirus vaccine

By John Bonifield, CNN Health

Updated 1:48 PM ET, Tue January 19, 2021

"This story has been updated with a statement from Moderna saying the lot was shipped to 37 states."

(CNN) Health officials in California are telling medical providers across the state not to administer doses from one lot of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine while they investigate possible severe allergic reactions last week in a number of people who got shots at a community vaccination clinic. Moderna said 37 different states got shipments from the lot, which included more than 1.2 million doses, and said most had likely been used.

In California, more than 330,000 doses from the lot were distributed to 287 providers across the state from January 5-12. Tens of thousands of doses may have already been administered, but the number of unused doses is unknown, according to Darrel Ng, a spokesperson for the California Department of Public Health.

CDPH said Sunday that fewer than 10 people at a clinic in San Diego who received Covid-19 shots from the lot required medical attention over the span of 24 hours. The state said it was not aware of anyone at any of the other 286 sites who had similar allergic reactions after receiving vaccine from the lot.

California's health department said it recommended pausing the entire lot, noting that there are not immediate replacement doses in addition to what had already been ordered. "Out of an extreme abundance of caution and also recognizing the extremely limited supply of vaccine, we are recommending that providers use other available vaccine inventory," Dr. Erica Pan, California's state epidemiologist, said in the statement.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/18/health/ca-vaccine-lot-pause/index.html

[progree]

10. Ugggh. In Minnesota, we don't have to worry, we just store them outside, and it'll be good

until April or May

[BumRushDaShow]

11. LOL

(I have an uncle who lives in Minnesota and keep wondering why )

[deurbano]

2. I got the first Moderna dose last Saturday, and by the time the clinic got to me, it was almost

closing time. i overheard them saying they had a couple of doses that would expire if not used, so I asked if my husband (waiting in the car) could get one, and they said yes. I think maybe the last 8 doses or so given that day were to friends or family members of those of us who had scheduled appointments. Not sure how frequently that happens...but something to consider.

[barbtries]

5. I'm glad they didn't just let them go to waste anyway.

it is a logistical challenge to do this right but everyone involved appears to me to be committed to doing it right.

[Cozmo]

3. Did anyone have any doubts that the tRump administration would screw this up?

The never had this operation organized 'cuz they didn't give a shit I know that that were counting on the military (big mistake) but it feels oh so Jared.

[progree]

8. It's better than bad doses NOT being dumped, and people vaccinated by those doses

thinking they are immune and so quit taking precautions and catch Covid and die.