Fifty vials of the Modern coronavirus vaccine had to be launched in Wisconsin this past weekend for “human error.”
TMJ4 Milwaukee, a local NBC-affiliated station, reported that the incident occurred at an Advocate Aurora Health Medical Center in Grafton, Washington, when an employee removed the vials from a freezer to remove another item. Then the employee could not return the vials to the freezer by mistake.
“We learned that about 50 vials of the Modern vaccine were inadvertently removed from a pharmacy refrigerator overnight,” a spokesman for lawyer Aurora told TMJ4. “Although part of the vaccine was administered to team members on December 26 within the approved 12-hour window after refrigeration, unfortunately most of it had to be discarded due to the requirements of ‘temperature storage needed to maintain its viability’.
The spokesman added: “We are clearly disappointed and sorry that this has happened.”
Speaking to The Hill, a spokeswoman for Aurora Health Attorney said, “Aurora Grafton’s vaccination program continues uninterrupted because we were able to redirect the supply of vaccines from other Aurora sites and look forward to additional shipments in the future. close”.
The spokesman said the hospital did not currently have any vials of the Pfizer vaccine, the only other COVID-19 vaccine that has been approved for the U.S.
Although it does not need to be stored at the extreme sub-zero temperatures required by the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna vaccine should be stored at temperatures between minus 13 degrees and 5 degrees Fahrenheit or at temperatures between 36 F and 46 F for up to 30 days before it should be thrown out.
In its fact sheet on the Modern Vaccine, the Food and Drug Administration notes that the specific requirements of the vaccine are due to the fact that the medicine does not contain preservatives and the particles inside are very fragile. Once the vaccine has been thawed, it cannot be re-frozen.
Like the Pfizer vaccine, Moderna’s immunization is given in two doses spaced about a month apart. Each vial contains multiple doses.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, 100,000 doses of the Modern vaccine and 84,825 doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been allocated to the state. The latest data from the department indicate that 10,358 vaccines have been administered so far.
Updated at 5:42 p.m.