Sonoma County has suspended 7,500 doses of Moderna vaccine from a potentially harmful group linked to severe allergic reactions in Southern California, another setback in its slow-moving campaign to vaccinate as many as 100,000 residents over the age of 65 .
The distribution of all remaining doses of Moderna Lot 041L20A was stopped Sunday night by Dr. Erica Pan, the chief epidemiologist in California, after six people developed allergic reactions during a mass vaccination event at Petco Park in San Diego. Everything took place in a 24-hour period and all hospitalizations were necessary.
More than 330,000 doses of the lot were distributed to 287 suppliers across the country from January 5 to 12, Pan said. Overall, nearly 1.3 million doses were produced in the group, Moderna confirmed. The company distributed nearly one million doses to approximately 1,700 vaccination sites in 37 states.
State health officials did not provide details about the symptoms associated with the allergic reactions, but did provide a link to a website of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on anaphylaxis – a severe allergic reaction that occurs in a small percentage of cases. may occur after a Covid19 vaccine. Symptoms of anaphylaxis may include lightheadedness, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, confusion, and fainting. The CDC considers an allergic reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine to be serious if the person needs to be treated with epinephrine or go to hospital.
The provincial and local hospitals received 7,500 doses from the production party associated with the allergic reactions, a Sonoma County spokeswoman confirmed.
“Official health officials are working with government officials and local health care partners to determine if / how many doses of Moderna Lot 041L20A have been distributed,” the Sonoma County spokesman wrote in an email.
The clearance of 7,500 doses of vaccine – an amount that exceeds the total number of doses administered in Sonoma Province during the past eight-day period reported by the country – is a major blow to the local immunization process.
Several local hospitals have confirmed that they have received portions of the Moderna shipment in question.
Sutter Health, which owns Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, and Providence St. Joseph Health, which owns Santa Rosa Memorial and Petaluma Valley hospitals, both admitted to receiving an unknown number of doses of modern-scale red flags at their Sonoma County facilities. Healdsburg Hospital received 200 doses, a representative said. None of the doses were administered to staff or patients at any of the four hospitals.
“We have quarantined these doses until further notice,” said St. Joseph Health officials said.
Sonoma Valley Hospital did not receive any portion of Lot 041L20A, a spokesman said.
Kaiser Permanente also admitted that he had received doses from the Moderna group, but it was unclear how many of them would possibly go to Kaiser Santa Rosa.
“At Kaiser Permanente, we have not recorded any serious adverse reactions in patients who received the vaccine,” the company said in a statement.
It reflects reports from elsewhere in the state. For some reason, the adverse reactions to the San Diego event seem to be limited.
The doses of the Moderna group expire in July. Suppliers are expected to store it until the public health and Moderna investigators learn more about the allergic reactions.
Mendocino County was also hit, but on a lesser scale. The province administered 100 doses of Lot 041L20A during a vaccination event on Jan. 7 at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds, vaccine coordinator Adrienne Thompson said in a statement. No adverse side effects have been reported, Thompson said. Mendocino County staff attempt to contact all 100 individuals who received the vaccine.
Andrew Coren, Mendocino County Public Health Officer, stressed that events like this are not unexpected and should not deter the public from being vaccinated.
“This isolated event did not increase the percentage of vaccine responses, which is still about one person in 100,000,” he said. “Vaccination is still the best way for all of us to go beyond this virus and return to a normal way of life.”
Dr Sundari Mase, Sonoma County health official, said she agreed with Coren’s statement.
You can contact staff writer Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or [email protected]. On Twitter @Skinny_Post.