BOSTON (CBS) – Nearly 2,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine were compromised at the VA Medical Center in Jamaica Plain after a freezer broke.
Earlier this week, a contractor accidentally unplugged while cleaning after a pipe burst and flooded the room where the vaccines were stored. As a result, 1,900 doses of the vaccine were endangered.
‘It’s 12 o’clock for the Moderna vaccine. Once it has been at room temperature for longer, you can no longer assure that it is effective and so you cannot give the vaccine, ”said Dr. Paul Biddinger, the medical director for emergency preparation at Mass General Brigham, on WBZ-TV.
Kyle Toto, a spokesperson for the VA Boston Healthcare System, told WBZ the vaccines have not been thrown away.
Toto said the freezer was in a safe location and an alarm system was installed. It is investigated why the surveillance and alarm system did not work.
“Supplemental doses are underway and we do not anticipate an interruption in our vaccination efforts,” said Toto.
Dr. Biddinger said proper storage is critical to maintaining the integrity of the key element in the vaccine and its overall success against the virus.
“The problem is that messenger RNA, mRNA, is very fragile. People have made the analogy with an M&M that melts very, very quickly. “
Massachusetts Deputy Stephen Lynch said the doses have been moved to Brockton and West Roxbury while the clean-up operation is ongoing.
“We just think it was an accident,” Lynch told reporters on Friday. Part of the contributing factor was the way these plugs work. One of them is an offset so it is very difficult to pull out. But the one at the top of the freezer was a direct pull, so the tech staff here corrected that. They made a hook, they took pictures of that plug and sent them to all the other VA hospitals that have this thermo-science freezer so that in case it happened somewhere else. “