LANSING, Mich. — 21 shipments of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine have been impacted by temperature issues during shipment by distributor, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS).
MDHHS was notified by McKesson, a health care company helping with vaccine distribution, that several shipments of the Moderna vaccine shipped on Sunday, Jan. 17, reported temperatures to cold for use.
The cause of this incident is under investigation by McKesson.
In the meantime, McKesson is working to quickly repack additional vaccines to ship out as replacement doses for the compromised vaccines.
The majority of the replacement doses were resent on Monday, Jan. 18, with the rest being shipped out earlier today.
Six more shipments were held back to check for potential issues with the vaccine, which may delay scheduled vaccinations at those six vaccine provider sites.
“We are committed to accelerating vaccine delivery as we work to reach our goal of vaccinating 70% of Michiganders over age 16 as quickly as possible with the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine,” said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health. “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.”