Nearly 2,000 doses of Moderna vaccine are tainted after cleaner accidentally unplugged from Boston VA facility as drug coming to Massachusetts drops by more than 70 percent this week
- Staff at the Veteran Affairs Boston Pharmacy on Tuesday discovered that a freezer on the Jamaica Plain campus was breaking down
- The failure has ruined 1,900 doses of the vaccine
- Freezer plug was loose after contractor ‘accidentally removed it while cleaning’
- While the freezer was in ‘a safe location’ and had an alarm system, it will be investigated why the monitoring system was not working
- Once removed from the refrigerator, the vaccines can be kept at room temperature for up to 12 hours
- The facility’s spokesperson did say that supplementation doses are in the works
Nearly 2,000 doses of the Moderna vaccines have gone bad at the Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center in Boston as the number of vaccine doses coming to Massachusetts has dropped by more than 70 percent.
Veteran Affairs Boston Pharmacy staff discovered on Tuesday that a freezer on the Jamaica Plain campus was breaking down, a spokesperson confirmed with NBC Boston. The failure has ruined 1,900 doses of the vaccine.
According to the spokesperson, a plug for the freezer was loose after a contractor ‘accidentally removed it while cleaning’.
While the freezer was in ‘a safe location’ and had an alarm system, it will be investigated why the monitoring system did not work.
Staff at the Veteran Affairs Boston Pharmacy on Tuesday discovered that a freezer on the Jamaica Plain campus was breaking down
The Moderna vaccine should be shipped and stored at -4 degrees Fahrenheit for up to six months.
It can be stored at normal refrigerated temperatures – between 36 and 46 degrees Fahrenheit – for 30 days.
Once removed from the refrigerator, the vaccines can be kept at room temperature for up to 12 hours.
The failure has ruined 1,900 doses of the vaccine
The Moderna vaccine should be shipped and stored at -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 degrees Celcius) for up to six months. It can be stored at normal refrigerated temperatures – between 36 and 46 degrees Fahrenheit – for 30 days. Once removed from the refrigerator, the vaccines can be kept at room temperature for up to 12 hours.
The facility’s spokesperson did say that supplementation doses are underway, claiming that the VA “does not foresee any disruption to our vaccination efforts.”
But this week, the number of doses shipped to Massachusetts is down 73% this week, according to the Department of Health. They only received 52,225 doses of the vaccine.
MA’s latest vaccine report shows that 86,230 doses were given this week, bringing the total doses in the state to 359,919.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced actions designed to dramatically expand vaccine production and distribution – to advance his goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office.
The actions and orders mark the beginning of an effort to overhaul the government’s policy to expel the vaccine, with 400,000 Americans already succumbed to COVID-19 and new mutations already spreading across the country.
Under the plan, 100 federal vaccination centers in major locations such as convention centers and stadiums and states will also be reimbursed for setting up their own vaccination centers.
Some major cities are already setting up the centers, including in Miami, New York, and Los Angeles, but 100 federal sites will spread the idea across the country.
And manufacturers will be mandated under the Defense Production Act to produce vaccine materials, from ingredients to needles, where there are shortages, and to produce protective equipment such as N95 masks.
Biden also depends on Congress to provide $ 1.9 trillion for economic aid and COVID-19 response.
There is a litany of complaints from states saying they are not getting enough vaccine, even though they are being asked to vaccinate a higher proportion of Americans.
More than 35.9 million doses have been produced, but about half – 16.5 million – have been distributed, according to a CDC tracker.