More than 1,100 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine were destroyed in Florida after the worker accidentally turned off the power supply to the refrigerator in a mobile vehicle where it was stored.
- Palm Beach health worker accidentally shuts off power to refrigerator where Pfizer vaccines are stored
- The Pfizer vaccine must be kept in the refrigerator to preserve some of the ingredients, otherwise it becomes useless
- The mistake meant that 232 vials of the vaccine – consisting of 1,160 doses – had to be destroyed.
- The Palm Beach County official now stores supplies in central refrigerators with a backup generator to prevent such an incident from happening again
- Officials struggle to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine to the U.S. population in a timely manner
- Only 6.9 percent of Americans got their first Pfizer or Moderna shot; only 1.4 percent of citizens are fully vaccinated
- It is with regard to the news that highly contagious mutations of the virus from the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa have now been detected on American soil.
More than 1,100 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine were destroyed in Florida after a health worker accidentally turned off a refrigerator that kept the shots cool.
Employees of the Palm Beach County Health Care District discovered the bug last Friday morning while conducting a “quality assurance check” before the vaccines were administered.
The Pfizer vaccine must be stored at a temperature of -70 degrees Fahrenheit to preserve some of the ingredients, but it can be transferred to a normal refrigerator five days before administration. If left for longer – or exposed to warmer temperatures – it will break down and become ineffective.
It is unclear how the worker managed to turn off the power supply to the refrigerator, which was inside a mobile vehicle.
More than 1,100 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine were destroyed in Florida after a worker accidentally turned off the power supply to a refrigerator that kept the shots cool.
Residents of an assisted living facility in Florida are awaiting a photo of the Pfizer vaccine earlier this month
In a statement released Friday, Palm Beach County officials stressed that it was “a single, isolated incident caused by human error” and insisted that it had absolutely no impact on patient safety.
In light of the incident, officials have introduced ‘additional precautions’, and they will now’ centralize all vaccine supplies in a safe place with a 24/7 generator.
The province says the damaged vaccines, which make up 232 vials – or about 1,160 doses – have been safely destroyed.
The mistake came as Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla revealed on Friday that his company was trying to speed up the development of future vaccines to less than 100 days, warning that there was a ‘high possibility’ that current vaccines would not be permanently effective. will not be.
Bourla said Pfizer plans to recognize a disease threat in less than 100 days after receiving a vaccine – a timeline even shorter than the 300-day target set by the Trump administration’s operation last year Warp Speed is set.
COVID-19 vaccinations have been developed at record speed due to technological advances, massive funding and the willingness of the public to participate in trials.
However, there is widespread backlog with the introduction of the vaccine to the American public.
According to current data, only 6.9 percent of Americans received their first of two Pfizer or Modern COVID vaccines.
Only 1.4 percent of citizens received both doses and are now fully vaccinated.
The statistics concern the fear that new mutant variants of the coronavirus in the US may go unnoticed.
There are now more than 350 cases of ‘supercovid’ in the US of the three strains first detected in Brazil, the United Kingdom and South Africa.
It is said that the mutations are up to 70 percent more contagious and that they can be 30 percent more lethal.
The wide spread of such strains can overwhelm the hospital system and cause a significant increase in deaths.
The U.S. has already reported more than 25.9 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country and more than 435,000 deaths.
Just one Friday, 165,339 new cases were added 3,503 new deaths.
More than 101,000 Americans remain in the hospital to be treated for the virus.
