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– A freezer with the Moderna coronavirus vaccine was in a safe place at a VA pharmacy in Boston, with an activated alarm system. On Tuesday, ABC reports, employees realized the freezer was not working. “The plug was found loose after a contractor accidentally removed it while cleaning,” said a VA Boston Healthcare System spokesperson. “As a result, 1,900 doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine in the freezer were endangered.”
Officials said they did not expect the disaster to affect vaccination schedules. “Supplemental doses are underway,” said the spokesman. An investigation has been launched, per NBC, into why the freezer alarm and control system didn’t warn anyone. The Moderna vaccine is to be kept cold, but too cold temperatures destroyed a shipment of nearly 12,000 doses bound for Michigan this month, according to NBC. (A freezer failure in California took a hospital two hours to administer the vaccine.)