Wasted vaccines may not be surprising, given challenges of storage
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require temperature and time limits in order to keep the product viable. An OSU pharmacist says human error shouldn t be unexpected. Author: Brittany Bailey Updated: 6:54 PM EST January 21, 2021
Ohio’s vaccination rollout effort was dealt a blow this week with news that hundreds of doses were wasted before they reached people’s arms.
The Ohio Dept. of Health suspended SpecialtyRX after learning 890 Moderna doses were lost because of improper monitoring of the storage temperatures.
The provider, which is not a part of the federal Long-Term Care Pharmacy Partnership program was given 1,500 doses to vaccinate residents at several long-term care facilities, none of which are in central Ohio.
Ohio Department of Health suspends SpecialtyRx after 890 coronavirus vaccines can’t be used after faulty temperature monitoring
Updated Jan 21, 2021;
Posted Jan 20, 2021
Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are administered at International High School in Paterson for walk-ins, no appointment, no residency necessary. Wednesday, January, 20, 2021
Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media
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COLUMBUS, Ohio The Ohio Department of Health has halted future allocations of coronavirus vaccines to SpecialtyRx after it potentially mishandled 890 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, the agency announced Wednesday afternoon.
The department referred details of the possibly mishandled doses to the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy, which has begun an investigation.
Nearly 1K COVID-19 vaccines wasted, Ohio Department of Health says
890 Moderna vaccines wasted after not being properly stored COVID-19 vaccine Moderna (Source: Tim Dubravetz) By FOX19 Digital Staff | January 20, 2021 at 2:57 PM EST - Updated January 20 at 5:10 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio (FOX19) - A vaccine provider in Columbus potentially mishandled 890 doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the Ohio Department of Health said in a news release Tuesday.
According to the ODH, SpecialtyRX received 1,500 vaccines to give to residents at eight long-term care facilities before the new year.
After administering the first doses, SpecialtyRX had 890 doses remaining.
“The company was exploring a transfer of the doses to another provider when it was discovered that they had failed to appropriately monitor temperatures in their refrigerator and freezer,” the ODH said in the release.