Hundreds of COVID vaccine doses expire after ‘human error’ in Wisconsin, officials say
Update: Hospital employee let COVID vaccine doses expire intentionally, Wisconsin officials say
Hundreds of COVID-19 vaccines had to be discarded due to “human error” at a Wisconsin hospital, officials said.
About 50 vials of the Moderna vaccine went unrefrigerated and expired at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton on Saturday, Aurora Advocate Health told McClatchy News. A person removed the vials to reach other items in a refrigerator and forgot to return them overnight.
“We are clearly disappointed and regret this happened,” officials said.
The vials contained about 500 vaccine doses, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The hospital system did not specify who was to receive the vaccine doses.
The hospital administered some of the doses to employees within the 12-hour limit when the vaccine can remain without refrigeration. However, most had to be thrown out, officials said.
A Wisconsin Department of Health spokeswoman told WISN no other cases of doses being discarded have been reported.
Aurora Advocate Health says about 17,000 employees have been vaccinated.
Hashim Zaibak, the CEO of Hayat Pharmacy in the Milwaukee area, told WKBT these types of errors can happen no matter the scope of the operation.
“Obviously at this point, losing any number of vaccine is significant,” Zaibak told the news outlet.
This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 1:44 PM.