OTTAWA COUNTY, MI -- Ottawa County received 1,600 replacement doses of coronavirus vaccine Tuesday after it was among 21 Michigan sites to receive doses that were presumed spoiled.
The new Moderna vaccine doses arrived later Tuesday, Jan. 19.
Ottawa County Deputy Health Administrator Marcia Mansaray said the replacement shipment matched the 1,600 doses lost because of a temperature glitch during shipment.
Related: Temperature issues spoil COVID-19 vaccine shipments to 21 sites in Michigan
State health leaders said nearly 12,000 doses had to be spoiled because temperature monitors indicated the doses became too cold during shipment. The shipments were made Sunday, Jan. 17.
In a press release issued Tuesday, health officials said McKesson Corp., which shipped the vaccine doses, “is working quickly to repack additional vaccine to ship out as replacement doses for those that may be compromised and the majority of the 21 shipments were resent on Monday night with the rest being sent Tuesday.”
Mansaray said she was in a meeting when she first learned about the spoiled doses.
“You probably could have knocked the people in the room over with a feather. We were just shocked,” she said.
“It was a little bit of a sickening feeling,” she said.
Mansaray on Tuesday said she was surprised and pleased the replacement doses came so quickly. At first, she wasn’t sure there would be replacement doses.
Up until now, the Ottawa County Health Department has only used the Pfizer vaccine. She expects no issues using the Moderna vaccine.
The glitch involving the spoiled doses did not delay individual vaccine appointments because the county only schedules those appointments once the vaccine is in hand and deemed useable.
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