Just when you thought things would go with President Joe Biden’s “new” plan for launching the vaccine, we come across another story of someone stepping on a rake and damaging the works. At Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center in Boston, workers found an unpleasant surprise awaiting them when they arrived Tuesday morning. More than 1,900 doses of the Modern vaccine had been “broken” overnight and had to be discarded. Unlike some previous cases we have dealt with where workers intentionally destroyed vaccine vials, this turned out to be more of a technical problem. One of the freezers where the vaccine was stored had “failed” without anyone noticing and the vials were considered unfit for use. But it is the way the freezer failed that is to ask questions.
About 2,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine broke down at a Boston Veterans Affairs hospital after a contractor accidentally turned off a freezer, hospital officials announced Thursday.
Staff at Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center discovered Tuesday that a freezer had failed and compromised 1,900 doses of the Modern COVID-19 vaccine.
According to a statement from Kyle Toto, a spokesman for VA Boston Healthcare System, it was found that the freezer plug was loose after a contractor accidentally disconnected it while cleaning. The freezer had been in a safe place and had an alarm system, he said.
So basically we’re seeing a case where a janitor who cleaned at night shift accidentally turned off the freezer where the vaccines were stored or turned it off while cleaning and forgot to plug it back in. Either way, it probably won’t work. that it is treated as a criminal matter, but the result is the same. Two thousand people, probably veterans, will not be vaccinated as soon as planned.
What they need to find out is whether their alarm system works or not. Apparently the freezer was still running (or would have been if plugged in), but when the high temperature alarm should have gone off after turning it off for a while, no one received any notification. That was the real technical failure here.
The reason it is important is that it highlights one of the key issues of the Modern vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine should be kept at extremely low and zero temperatures. But the Modern version is not only damaged if overheated, but also it gets too cold. Last weekend, another large shipment of 12,000 doses of Moderna to Michigan was damaged because they froze to sub-zero temperatures. This may have been the result of confusion on the part of the distribution company who believed they were sending doses of Pfizer or simply another mechanical failure.
What we are learning here is that the Modern vaccine can be incredibly effective with a success rate of over 90%, but it is also extremely fragile. It has to be stored somewhere in the right temperature range or it gets damaged pretty quickly. Of course, there should have been a lot more training not only for the people responsible for storing and managing it, but also for the people hired to transport it. This is another reason to wait for the final approval and widespread release of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. It can be stored at standard refrigerator temperatures of 35.6 to 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit and for longer periods of time.