Ohio health officials: Walgreens administered vaccine that was improperly stored
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Updated: 6:39 PM CST Feb 3, 2021
WLWT Digital Staff
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Updated: 6:39 PM CST Feb 3, 2021
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as we know, However, in any large scale vaccination program, depending on people sometimes is human error. We have Dr Vanderhof with us now to walk us through a situation that we were just notified about this morning by Walgreen pharmacies. Walgreen, as you'll recall, is one of the main pharmacy companies that has been working in our nursing homes, vaccinating people and in our assisted living in other Congress care settings. Um, Dr Van Hoff will explain this, but just very, very quickly before I turn it over to him. Um, this was a case where the vaccine, the temperature was not kept where it should have been in layman's terms. My terms, um, this involved vaccinations that occurred yesterday in the following facilities. Ashtabula County Residential Service Corporation, the Maples in Kingsville, Ashtabula Towers in Ashtabula, Heather healthcare communities in Shorn Six Chimneys on East on East Cleveland and Willow Park, convalescent home in Cleveland. Um, again, vaccinations were given, And what Dr Vanderhof will explain is no harm to anyone. But these vaccinations will have to be done again. And so, um, Walgreens has reached out to those nursing homes. Those facilities and the individuals will then be notified. So, Dr Vanderhof, you wanna kind of walk us through what your understanding is or what happened in regard to these facilities yesterday? Uh, what the problem is and what the remedy is. Thank you, Governor. Yes, Well, I'll remind everyone that you know RMR and a vaccines are just amazing vaccines. They're remarkably safe and effective. But as the governor noted, they could be challenging to handle because they require ultra cold storage until they're ready to be administered. If there is any breach in that cold storage process before the vaccine is thought and then administered to patients, vaccine can't be relied upon to be effective toe work as it was designed. Now we learned just a short time ago is the governor noted that yesterday Walgreens may have erroneously administered some vaccines in those five nursing homes that shouldn't have been used because of uncertainty about the proper cold storage leading up to vaccination. Now we understand that Walgreens identified this through their quality control processes and then properly communicated with CDC in the manufacturer regarding what the appropriate next steps should be, and based on a conversation that I literally had with them just prior to this press conference, Uh, the guidance that they've received leads them now to be working with the C, D. C and the impacted nursing homes and the nursing homes medical directors to determine which patients may need to be re vaccinated. And so again, is the governor noted. This is really an issue about taking every step that we can to ensure that when ever a person gets a vaccine, they're getting a vaccine that will work. Uh, this is not an issue, though, of any known harm having been done so more to come. So Dr the Remedy, I believe, from the C. D. C. The remedy from the manufacturer is what these individuals will receive. A. That's right. That's right. So the remedy here is to identify individuals who need another vaccine. And again, not everyone who is in those nursing homes are impacted by these particular lots. These particular vials of vaccine, that for which the cold storage chain was not maintained, um, so the patients don't need to do anything. The C, D. C. And the nursing homes and medical directors, along with Walgreens, are working to very carefully identify any individuals who will need another vaccine and then to ensure that they get that vaccine in a timely manner. So my my understanding is just for the people in those nursing homes that might be watching or might hear about this on the news that the lot of this vaccine that was compromised, um, was not the Onley shots that were administered, that somebody could have been in that nursing home and got it from a different lot. And we're assured by Walgreen that they know who got what lot. And so so they will. They will be talking with the medical directors of those nursing homes. They will drill down to figure out exactly who those individuals were. That's my understanding, Dr Van Hoff, that there is a wait period until probably those shots were given again. Or is that clear yet? Well, right, What What the nursing homes and Walgreens are doing is Walgreens is working directly with the C. D. C. As we speak to not only identify the patients, but to make sure that they, if they need to be re vaccinated, they'll get that at the right time. So there's there are more details to be worked out But Walgreens assures me the C. D. C. Is helping them make the right determinations. Thank you very much. Mhm.