The COVID-19 vaccine is wasted

(NBC NEWS) – The Columbus vaccine provider was suspended by the Ohio Department of Health, accused of failing to control the temperature at which COVID-19 vaccine doses were maintained.

According to the Ohio Department of Health, SpecialtyRX, a vaccine provider in Columbus, received 1,500 vaccines to vaccinate residents at eight long-term care centers before the new year.

After administering the first doses, ODH said SpecialtyRX had 890 doses left. The company was exploring the transfer of doses to another supplier when it was discovered that they had not been able to properly control refrigerator and freezer temperatures, according to ODH.

The health department requires all COVID-19 vaccine suppliers to check and record the minimum and maximum temperatures of refrigerators and freezers every business day.

The lack of temperature control makes the doses unusable.

“If you deviate from these storage conditions, you should basically lose the product,” said Dr. Zach Jenkins, an infectious disease expert and associate professor of pharmacy at Cedarville University. “You have to throw it in the trash, so to speak, and one of the reasons for that is that we just don’t have the data to tell us the safety and stability of this product beyond this period of time. ”

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