The Ministry of Health and Wellness has confirmed that an investigation is underway into the circumstances in which a vial with 10 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines went missing from a vaccination site at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James on Monday
The vial was discovered to be missing after standard checks were carried out during the vaccination process, the ministry said in a news release late Tuesday.
The ministry said the investigation involves the review of CCTV footage and the policies and procedures at the site. Several members of staff of the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) who were assigned to the vaccination site have been reassigned, pending the outcome of the investigation, the health ministry said.
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Additionally, a review is taking place of the circumstances in which six doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines were accidentally damaged at the Lucea Health Centre in Hanover when a vial is believed to have fallen from the hand of a worker who was in the process of returning the vial to a cold storage container. The ministry is also following up on preliminary reports at a vaccination site in Westmoreland, where eight doses fell and broke from a cold storage container that was on a table that collapsed.
A built-in component of the COVID-19 Vaccination Implementation Programme is periodic audits, which are done the key areas of the programme, including personnel, process flow and usage of vaccines. Members of the public can expect to be informed of the findings on an on-going basis, once it has been completed and sent to the coordinating mechanisms built into the programme.Â
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The ministry added that it wishes to extend its appreciation to healthcare workers who continue to play a valiant role in the roll out of the national vaccination programme and reiterateed the importance of vigilance among stakeholders when participating in the vaccination process.
On Monday, the island received its first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines through the COVAX facility, with 14,400 doses. This added to the 50,000 vaccines received as a gift from India a week earlier.
Source: Loop
