PORTLAND, Oregon. (AP) – Two Portland hospitals discarded more than three dozen doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, and according to a report, state health officials were initially unaware of the wasted shots.
Oregon Health & Science University lost 15 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses after one vial broke and two were mixed incorrectly, The Oregonian / OregonLive reported Wednesday. Legacy Health wasted 27 doses when it couldn’t find health professionals to take excess vaccine before it expired. The vaccine must be stored at ultra-cold temperatures to be effective and must be administered quickly.
The wasted doses only reflect 0.07% of the vaccines administered in Oregon to date.
It is unclear whether doses have been lost in other parts of Oregon.
The Oregon Health Authority said it had learned of the wasted doses from the newspaper and then confirmed them to OHSU and Legacy, despite Legacy saying it had previously reported the information to the state as required.
The state reported 764 new confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases and an additional eight fatalities on Wednesday.
More than 60,000 doses have been administered, but nearly 75% of the doses delivered to the state – some 225,000 – have yet to get into the arms of Oregonians. Gov. Kate Brown has called for 12,000 vaccinations a day by the end of next week, but the state is still far behind that target with 2,800 doses given Wednesday.