By Wendy Osher
An estimated 1,386 doses of Pfizer vaccine were compromised and eventually discarded in Maui after it was discovered that the refrigerator door was not sealed properly.
The incident occurred on Monday and the refrigerator is currently being repaired; but future doses will be stored in an alternative location, according to Maui Health.
“Our team immediately contacted Pfizer and determined that the vials should be removed from clinic use and properly disposed of,” said Tracy Dallarda, a spokeswoman for Maui Health / Maui Memorial Medical Center. and noted that the Department of Health and its partners were also notified to the Hawaii Health Association.
“We appreciate that Maui Health has taken immediate corrective action and is transparent about what happened. We recognize that each vaccine has different storage requirements and establishing large-scale vaccination operations from scratch is a challenge for any healthcare provider. We know that the Maui Health team is dedicated to protecting the people of Maui and we are working to vaccinate their community as quickly as possible, ”said Hilton Raethel, president and CEO of HAH.
The State Department of Health confirmed that they were notified of the Maui incident today. The vaccine loss is the largest that has occurred in the state to date, although a total of 2,400 doses have been lost since the administration of the vaccine began. The remaining 1,014 doses were lost in separate incidents statewide since mid-December, according to the DOH.
“The vast majority, or 881, of these 1,014 doses were lost when a vial or syringe was broken. Other doses were not given after a vial had been opened and the vaccine had not been removed in a syringe, but they were not administered, ”said DOH spokesman Brooks Baehr.
The more than 1,000 doses lost in incidents statewide account for less than .2% of the doses administered in Hawaii. “In other words, less than two doses had been missed for every 1,000 vaccines given before this unfortunate incident in Maui,” Baehr said.
Maui Health primarily administers the Pfizer vaccine, which must be stored at a very low temperature. When the hospital site began to be installed, the University of Hawaii and Maui provided an ultra-low freezer to give it safe storage at appropriate temperatures. According to Maui Health, the vaccine is safely locked in the ultra-low freezer until it has to be transferred to a refrigerator where it is thawed and prepared for the week’s appointments at the clinic.
Meanwhile, Maui Health maintains that there is enough vaccine supply to continue its vaccination efforts and that all current and future appointments will be maintained as planned.
“We want to assure our community that there are no interruptions in our vaccination efforts and in fact we are working on expanding those efforts which include increasing clinic hours and pop-up hosting. across the island, ”said Mike Rembis, CEO of Maui Health.
According to Maui Health, COVID-19 vaccination clinics continue this week with thousands of appointments scheduled at the main clinic in the lobby of Maui Memorial Medical Center and its Kīhei Clinic.
To date, Maui Health has administered more than 25,000 vaccines to Maui residents and will be in Lānaʻi this Saturday to further assist in their vaccination efforts. “Maui Health will also soon announce a new expanded site that will allow for a further increase in vaccination efforts,” Dallarda said.
In Maui, the DOH reports that 22.9 percent (36,047) of the population has received a first dose of the vaccine; 10.4 percent (15,718) have completed two doses; and 1,522 additional doses (of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine) have been initiated and completed. In total, Maui County has administered 53,287 doses among a total population base of 167,417.