State calls for audit of Health Care District after vaccine spoiled February 3, 2021 at 9:50 AM EST - Updated February 3 at 5:46 PM
The Florida Department of Health has called for an audit of the Health Care District of Palm Beach County after more than 1,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were spoiled.
A spokeswoman for the Health Care District
said last week that 232 refrigerated vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were discovered to be outside the required temperature control range.
Those vials contained 1,160 doses of the vaccine.
Spokeswoman Robin Kish said the incident was caused when the power to the refrigerator storing the vaccine was unintentionally turned off.
By Joel Malkin
Feb 3, 2021
The Florida Department of Health is calling for an audit of the Palm Beach County Health Care District after more than 1,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were destroyed.
District CEO Darcy Davis addressed the incident to county commissioners on Tuesday. It was a single isolated incident. It was a human error and it had absolutely no impact on patient safety.
She says a generator on a mobile vaccination unit was not turned on overnight and that led to a refrigerator containing the 232 vials of the Pfizer vaccine to rise above the recommended temperature. We reached out to the manufacturer and confirmed that it was not viable and it was taken from the site. New vaccine was brought in immediately.
1,000 COVID vaccine doses damaged in Palm Beach County
Published: February 3, 2021 1:25 PM EST
Updated: February 3, 2021 6:27 PM EST
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More than 1,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were reported damaged last week in Palm Beach County, prompting Florida health officials on Wednesday to call for an audit into how the life-saving vaccines are being handled.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said health officials wanted to inquire after receiving reports of doses that were spoiled because they were improperly stored. The Florida Department of Health has asked the Palm Beach County Health Care District to conduct a full accounting of all vaccine-related equipment and procedures to store and handle the vaccine.
1,000 COVID vaccine doses damaged in Florida county
February 3, 2021 GMT
MIAMI (AP) More than 1,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were reported damaged last week in Palm Beach County, prompting Florida health officials on Wednesday to call for an audit into how the life-saving vaccines are being handled.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said health officials wanted to inquire after receiving reports of doses that were spoiled because they were improperly stored. The Florida Department of Health has asked the Palm Beach County Health Care District to conduct a full accounting of all vaccine-related equipment and procedures to store and handle the vaccine.
“I think it’s 100% appropriate to do. We know that there’s certain storage requirements,” DeSantis said during a news conference Wednesday in Pahokee. “People are very conscious about that by and large, so I think we need to get answers.”
Florida health officials to conduct audit after doses of coronavirus vaccine spoiled By Peter Martinez Former FEMA leader on COVID vaccine rollout
Florida health officials announced on Wednesday that they are conducting an audit of the state s handling of the coronavirus vaccine. This comes after more than 1,000 doses were spoiled in Palm Beach County last week, according to officials.
The audit will require a full accounting of vaccine-related equipment and procedures after 1,160 doses were found to be stored incorrectly in a refrigerator that had been turned off, per CBS Miami. It is a tragedy that even one dose of this critical resource would go to waste and not be used to save a life from COVID-19, Florida State Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivkees said in a statement. We hope to see this situation rectified and addressed immediately to ensure the Palm Beach County Health Care District does not let one more dose go to waste.