Probe into missing vaccine vial delayed

WESTERN BUREAU:

The nation will have to wait longer than promised for the report into Monday’s mysterious disappearance of a vial of AstraZeneca vaccine from the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in Montego Bay, as the auditor assigned to that investigation is currently participating in a previously scheduled islandwide review.

Errol Greene, regional director for the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA), which has oversight responsibility for the CRH and other hospitals in western Jamaica, told The Gleaner on Thursday that he would not be rushing the auditor to complete the report at this time.

“The auditor is still doing her work, but she is working with the Ministry of Health’s auditors to look at all the sites in the region. Every site in Jamaica is being audited, and the ministry’s permanent secretary needs a report on the islandwide situation today (Thursday), so I am not pressing her,” said Greene.

News emerged on Tuesday that a vial containing 10 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had gone missing from the CRH’s storage. It has not yet been ascertained if the vial was stolen or misplaced.

Several WRHA staff members have been reassigned.

Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA) President Dr Mindi Fitz-Henley said that she was concerned about the integrity of the missing vial should it fall into the wrong hands.

“If somebody took the vaccine and was planning to give it to persons, was it maintained at the right temperature, and could it cause an issue for the persons that they are going to give it to?” said Fitz-Henley.

“Did somebody take it to sell to people or to give to people, or did it drop from somebody and they are afraid to speak?”

Despite repeated concerns about the safety of COVID-19 vaccine storage, Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton on Wednesday described the alarm over the missing vial as overblown.