More than 1,100 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine DESTROYED in Florida after worker accidentally turned off power to refrigerator in mobile vehicle in which they were stored
- The health worker in Palm Beach accidentally cut off the power to a refrigerator where the Pfizer vaccines were kept
- The Pfizer vaccine must be kept refrigerated to preserve some components or it will become unusable
- The blunder meant that 232 vials of the vaccine – consisting of 1,160 doses – had to be destroyed
- Palm Beach County official is now storing supplies in centralized refrigerators with a backup generator to prevent such an incident from happening again
- Officials are struggling to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine to the U.S. population in a timely manner
- Only 6.9 percent of Americans have received their first Pfizer or Moderna injection; only 1.4 percent of citizens are fully vaccinated
- It’s alarming news as highly contagious mutations of the virus from the UK, Brazil and South Africa have now been discovered on US soil.
More than 1,100 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine have been destroyed in Florida after a health care provider accidentally turned off a refrigerator that kept shots cool.
Palm Beach County Health Care District employees discovered the error Friday morning while conducting a “quality check” before the vaccines were administered.
The Pfizer vaccine must be stored at -70 degrees Fahrenheit to preserve some components, but they can be transferred to a regular refrigerator for five days before administering. If left longer – or exposed to higher temperatures – they will deteriorate and become ineffective.
It is unclear how the worker managed to turn off the power to the refrigerator, which was in a mobile vehicle.
More than 1,100 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine have been destroyed in Florida after an employee accidentally turned off the power to a refrigerator that kept the shots cool
The photo shows residents of an assisted living facility in Florida who were waiting for the Pfizer vaccine earlier this month
In a statement released Friday, Palm Beach County officials insisted that the “ single, isolated incident caused by human error ” and insisted “ it had absolutely no impact on patient safety. ”
In light of the incident, officials have implemented ‘additional safeguards’ and will now ‘centralize all vaccine supplies in a secure location with 24/7 power generator backup.’
The County says the damaged vaccines, which consist of 232 vials – or about 1,160 doses – have been safely destroyed.
The blunder comes when Pfizer’s CEO, Albert Bourla, revealed on Friday that his company is trying to accelerate development of future vaccines to less than 100 days, warning that there is a “ high chance ” that current vaccines may not be permanently effective.
Bourla said Pfizer plans to move from recognizing a threat of disease to obtaining a vaccine in less than 100 days – a timeline even shorter than the 300-day goal set last year by Operation Warp Speed. of the Trump administration was proposed.
COVID-19 vaccinations have been developed at record speed thanks to technological advancements, massive funding and public willingness to participate in trials.
However, there have been widespread delays in the introduction of the vaccine to the American public in general.
According to current data, only 6.9 percent of Americans have received their first of two Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccines.
Only 1.4 percent of citizens have received both doses and are now fully vaccinated.
The statistics are alarming given fears that new mutant variants of the coronavirus in the US could be unnoticed inescapable.
More than 350 cases of ‘super-covid’ have now been reported in the US from the three strains first discovered in Brazil, the UK and South Africa.
The mutations could be up to 70 percent more contagious and could be 30 percent more deadly.
The wide distribution of such species could overwhelm the hospital system and cause a significant increase in deaths.
The US has already reported more than 25.9 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the country and more than 435,000 deaths in total.
On a Friday alone, 165,339 new cases and 3,503 new deaths were added to the count.
More than 101,000 Americans remain in the hospital while being treated for the virus.
