There was no immediate indication as to which areas of the state might be impacted, but the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) reports this afternoon that they have been notified by McKesson that several shipments of Moderna vaccine shipped on Sunday, January 17th, had their temperature reported as going out of range and getting too cold. The cause of that issue is under investigation by McKesson.
Each vaccine shipment is equipped with a temperature monitoring device used to monitor the vaccine temperature while in transport. McKesson 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 on Tuesday. An additional six shipments were held back to check that there were no issues with the vaccine which may delay scheduled vaccinations at those six unidentified vaccine provider sites.
Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Chief Medical Executive and Chief Deputy for Health, says, “We are committed to accelerating vaccine delivery as we work to reach our goal of vaccinating 70-percent of Michiganders over age 16 as quickly as possible with the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine.” She notes, “Although it is unfortunate that this vaccine will not be able to be used, we are pleased that the safeguards put into place to ensure the integrity of the vaccine worked. This is the first report of vaccine potentially being compromised during shipment in Michigan and we are working quickly with the distributor to have replacement vaccine shipped out.”
Vaccines are shipped to vaccine providers across the state by the manufacturers and distributors. No vaccine is shipped or distributed by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
