A Kansas hospital had to dispose of nearly 600 doses of COVID-19 vaccine this week due to a “process error,” health officials said Thursday.
Lawrence Memorial Hospital said it received 570 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine from Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health on Wednesday. The doses are usually frozen so that they can be placed in the freezer in the hospital until they are ready for distribution.
The Lawrence, Kansas, hospital, said in a release that he followed this procedure, “without realizing that they had already been thawed.”
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Slides from Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at National Jewish Hospital pharmacy for distribution in east Denver on March 6, 2021. (Associated Press)
“When we discovered that the vaccines had been delivered to the hospital in a refrigerated state, LMH Health immediately turned to Johnson & Johnson for guidance,” said Brian Bradfield, deputy president of emergency services. “The company indicates that these doses should be discarded.”
Russ Johnson, President and CEO of LMH Health, said that a vaccination team aims to quickly review and refine the processes of vaccine prevention. He says these processes “failed in this case” and the team is working to prevent future errors.
“Although it is a small percentage of the total vaccines the country has received, we know it is not insignificant. It is a sad situation for our hospital, our members of the Phase 2 community and our Unified Command- partners, “Johnson said.
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“We owe it to our community and the many volunteers and staff who are throwing their hearts into the vaccination effort to work through it effectively and effectively,” he continued. “We have had an almost flawless process to date and we will determine where our processes have failed and rectify them.”
According to Bradfield, Johnson & Johnson requested that the hospital contact McKesson, a healthcare company that oversees distribution.
“McKesson referred our state and local health department to coordinate replacement doses,” he said.
LMH Health and LDCPH were rescheduling the vaccine for those affected by the bug, reports FOX 4 of Kansas City, Mo.
According to hospital officials, nearly 2,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were spoiled at a veterans’ hospital in Boston in January.
In Wisconsin, a pharmacist agreed to plead guilty to federal charges after authorities said he deliberately destroyed hundreds of doses by removing them from the refrigerator two nights.
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President Biden announced in a speech to the country on Thursday that he was ordering countries, tribes and territories to ensure that all U.S. adults are eligible for vaccination by May 1st.
Associated Press contributed to this report