A bottle with the Moderna Inc. Covid-19 vaccine.
Photographer: Eduardo Munoz / Reuters / Bloomberg
Photographer: Eduardo Munoz / Reuters / Bloomberg
At least three shipments of Moderna Inc. ‘s Covid-19 vaccine arrived in Texas last week with signs that the shots had strayed from their required temperature range, which according to the state hospital association has slowed in other deliveries.
Some Modern Vaccine shipments that were to be delivered last week before the Christmas holidays were held back due to temperature issues, said Carrie Kroll, vice president of advocacy, quality and public health at the Texas Hospital Association. It was unclear how many doses were affected in general.
The transportation in question has been replaced by the federal government and others have been withheld by U.S. officials due to a possible problem with their temperature sensors, Kroll said. The Moderna vaccine must be kept frozen for dispatch and storage.
The temperature problems underline how the US faced obstacles in their attempt to vaccinate 20 million Americans by the end of the year, a goal seems to be out of reach. As of Monday, only 2.13 million people had been shot, though 11.45 million doses of the vaccines prescribed by Moderna and Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE were manufactured, distributed.
Read more: US vaccinations at 200,000 a day go a long way at ‘Warp Speed’
A spokesman for Moderna referred questions to the federal government and McKesson Corp., which distributes the Modern vaccines.
Spokesmen for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and McKesson said they were investigating the matter. Spokesmen for Operation Warp Speed, the federal vaccination program, did not respond to several requests for comment.
Texas Department of State Health Services officials confirmed that doses were delayed, but did not respond directly to questions about the temperature problems.
“Some of the shipments for week 2 have been delayed and were only received by providers on Monday and Tuesday of this week,” Lara Anton, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said in an email. The delay contributed to Texas administering a relatively small portion of the vaccine doses allocated to the state.
Kroll, the hospital association official, said hospitals are now only getting a few doses expected a week ago, but the numbers in the allocation of vaccines in the states do not reflect the delay.
Other reporting problems could make it seem like Texas medical providers are delivering fewer shots than they actually are, she said. Some hospital systems have experienced problems with the data system the state uses to detect vaccinations, she said. Shots fired by them are not properly registered in the central system, and the deviations must be resolved on a case-by-case basis.
“It will look like there is vaccine sitting on the shelf when it is administered,” Kroll said.
– With help by Joe Carroll