HSE confirms a number of vials of COVID19 vaccine have had to be dumped

Fly_away · 26-01-2021 6:55pm #1

HSE has confirmed that a number of vials of vaccine have had to be dumped after being incorrectly stored.

They were delivered to a nursing home in the Midlands/Louth/Meath CHO area.

https://twitter.com/newschambers/status/1354123216885850115?s=19

This is saddening and anger inducing.

26-01-2021 6:59pm

I’ve been completely against the government, NPHET and HSE throughout but mistakes do happen.

It sucks but it is what it is. Hopefully lessons were learned...

hotmail.com · 26-01-2021 7:00pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I’ve been completely against the government, NPHET and HSE throughout but mistakes do happen.

It sucks but it is what it is. Hopefully lessons were learned...

Mistakes happen quite a lot.

hynesie08 · 26-01-2021 7:02pm

Over/under on somebody claiming they weren't dumped but given to friends and relatives? I've got 20 minutes.

KrustyUCC · 26-01-2021 7:02pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I’ve been completely against the government, NPHET and HSE throughout but mistakes do happen.

It sucks but it is what it is. Hopefully lessons were learned...

Mistakes shouldn't happen with such a precious resource

It's unforgiveable

Somebody should be held accountable and lose their job for this 'mistake'

Then again it's Ireland so that will never happen

titan18 · 26-01-2021 7:04pm

KrustyUCC wrote: »

Mistakes shouldn't happen with such a precious resource

It's unforgiveable

Somebody should be held accountable and lose their job for this 'mistake'

Then again it's Ireland so that will never happen

I'll accept a public flogging on RTE news. Might cheer us up a bit

KrustyUCC · 26-01-2021 7:05pm

titan18 wrote: »

I'll accept a public flogging on RTE news. Might cheer us up a bit

Ha lol

froog · 26-01-2021 7:17pm

the fact they said "a number" makes me think it was a lot.

disgrace.

SEPT 23 1989 · 26-01-2021 7:29pm

always read the instructions

plodder · 26-01-2021 10:02pm

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

always read the instructions

I wonder what instructions did they receive?

Mistakes will be made alright, but it would be nice to know what the cause was.

Tzardine · 26-01-2021 10:04pm

It was 22 vials. Approx 100 doses.

Not great. Not terrible.

plodder · 26-01-2021 10:08pm

22 vials should be at least 132 doses.

Rubberchikken · 26-01-2021 10:12pm

Seriously who is surprised, shocked or even willing to raise their eyebrows a tiny bit at the fact that the HSE screwed up, again?

Its the only thing they ever do.

They're useless, incompetent and the greatest waste of space known to man.
I don't care how many covid-19 signs they produced last year, or how they're convinced this vaccine is the answer to everything, they will always be a bunch of inefficient middle managers each to concerned watching their own backs to actually be of any use.

Mr. Karate · 26-01-2021 10:56pm

KrustyUCC wrote: »

Mistakes shouldn't happen with such a precious resource

It's unforgiveable

Somebody should be held accountable and lose their job for this 'mistake'

Then again it's Ireland so that will never happen

Chances are the idiot has already been given a raise and a promotion.

wheresthebeef · 26-01-2021 11:24pm

The HSE are taking the flack for this but I highly suspect it was the nursing home that farked up here.
We’ve been told time and time again since December : you need a separate, pharmacy grade fridge with a temperature data logger for storing the vaccine and only the vaccine. Prepare it, test it, monitor it.
Plenty of muppets thinking they could get away with a domestic fridge, or just a thermometer in a cup of water.
I spent €1100 on a fridge and WiFi temperature data logger for a vaccine that I had custody of for less than 12 hours for this reason. That little box of vials was the most valuable thing I’ve ever held in my hands.
We had a site visit from vaccination team a week before and the day before to check we had everything in place. This should never have happened.

plodder · 26-01-2021 11:30pm

wheresthebeef wrote: »

The HSE are taking the flack for this but I highly suspect it was the nursing home that farked up here.
We’ve been told time and time again since December : you need a separate, pharmacy grade fridge with a temperature data logger for storing the vaccine and only the vaccine. Prepare it, test it, monitor it.
Plenty of muppets thinking they could get away with a domestic fridge, or just a thermometer in a cup of water.
I spent €1100 on a fridge and WiFi temperature data logger for a vaccine that I had custody of for less than 12 hours for this reason. That little box of vials was the most valuable thing I’ve ever held in my hands.
We had a site visit from vaccination team a week before and the day before to check we had everything in place. This should never have happened.

So, what could have happened? Did they just forget to put the tray in the fridge overnight? Seems unlikely.

Or maybe did they take the whole tray out at the start of the day and then went over the two hour limit for the stock they hadn't used up to that point?

lawrencesummers · 26-01-2021 11:32pm

Does anyone think for one second that the HSE will rollout this vaccine without making shiyt of something?

Miike · 26-01-2021 11:33pm

plodder wrote: »

So, what could have happened? Did they just forget to put the tray in the fridge overnight? Seems unlikely.

Or maybe did they take the whole tray out at the start of the day and then went over the two hour limit for the stock they hadn't used up to that point?

Wait for the incident learning notice to come from this. It won't be long.

lawrencesummers · 26-01-2021 11:34pm

Tzardine wrote: »

It was 22 vials. Approx 100 doses.

Not great. Not terrible.

50 people in high risk category not getting vaccinated.

26-01-2021 11:35pm

Lesson learned hopefully. Always going to be hiccups like this along the way unfortunately.

Miike · 26-01-2021 11:37pm

Brynn Fit Buttermilk wrote: »

Lesson learned hopefully. Always going to be hiccups like this along the way unfortunately.

I don't think a single country hasn't had an issue like this so far.

StupidLikeAFox · 26-01-2021 11:37pm

Its very unfortunate but 143000 people have been vaccinated so far - its inevitable that that there is going to be some mistakes along the way and if this 100 odd doses is the extent of it we won't be doing too bad.

Russman · 26-01-2021 11:39pm

Ahh c’mon, people make mistakes, it happens. Nobody is perfect, move on. FFS.

Lose their job over something like this ? Wtf !!

wheresthebeef · 26-01-2021 11:40pm

plodder wrote: »

So, what could have happened? Did they just forget to put the tray in the fridge overnight? Seems unlikely.

Or maybe did they take the whole tray out at the start of the day and then went over the two hour limit for the stock they hadn't used up to that point?

The only thing I can see going wrong is that they put it in a domestic fridge outside the parameters of 2-8 degrees meaning the vaccine clock of 6 hours would have started sometime during the night making it unusable. No excuse for it, the requirements were drilled into us.
We had one job: keep the vaccine at the right temperature overnight until the vaccination team arrives on site.

wheresthebeef · 26-01-2021 11:41pm

StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

Its very unfortunate but 143000 people have been vaccinated so far - its inevitable that that there is going to be some mistakes along the way and if this 100 odd doses is the extent of it we won't be doing too bad.

There’s 120 elderly folks and frontline workers who might feel very different about this.

ForestFire · 26-01-2021 11:47pm

lawrencesummers wrote: »

50 people in high risk category not getting vaccinated.

Yes of course this is the result of this mistake....
While things like this should not be happening (But sometime mistake will happen regardless)....

....Sure Joan, the staff Nurse, has already gathered the elderly resident's to make the announcement earlier this afternoon....

"Good morning all, unfortunately Mary the canteen lady, need some space to store here raspberry cheesecakes for todays deserts and removed all your vaccines from the fridge.....So you will now not be getting any vaccines for Covid ever.......but on a positive note, I do here the cheesecake is lovely....."

Where in reality, all this mistake has done, is delayed the rollout for these people by a few days and overall in Ireland the total rollout by a few hours...

Disclaimer:- None of the characters or events above are real and this story was based purely on a fictional nursing home....

And as I said these things should still not be happening.

hynesie08 · 26-01-2021 11:48pm

lawrencesummers wrote: »

50 people in high risk category not getting vaccinated.

wheresthebeef wrote: »

There’s 120 elderly folks and frontline workers who might feel very different about this.

Any confirmation that they didn't get vaccinated? We do have a reserve of vaccines, seems like this would be the perfect excuse to crack into them.

wheresthebeef · 26-01-2021 11:53pm

hynesie08 wrote: »

Any confirmation that they didn't get vaccinated? We do have a reserve of vaccines, seems like this would be the perfect excuse to crack into them.

The statement says they managed to redirect 43 doses to partially vaccinate some people on site (hopefully all elderly) and the rest will need to wait for more supplies to come. Could be a week, hopefully less.

Strumms · 26-01-2021 11:54pm

Russman wrote: »

Ahh c’mon, people make mistakes, it happens. Nobody is perfect, move on. FFS.

Lose their job over something like this ? Wtf !!

Why not ? IF the management of the facility directly fuçked up, or failed in their duty to oversee the performance of employees that their employees were ensuring proper storage of the resources... Somebody elsewhere or indeed in that facility could loose their life over the fückup.. !

hynesie08 · 27-01-2021 12:04am

wheresthebeef wrote: »

The statement says they managed to redirect 43 doses to partially vaccinate some people on site (hopefully all elderly) and the rest will need to wait for more supplies to come. Could be a week, hopefully less.

OK, well obviously someone ****ed up along the way (and it should be thoroughly investigated) but at least it wasn't a complete washout.

wheresthebeef · 27-01-2021 12:06am

Strumms wrote: »

Why not ? IF the management of the facility directly fuçked up, or failed in their duty to oversee the performance of employees that their employees were ensuring proper storage of the resources... Somebody elsewhere or indeed in that facility could loose their life over the fückup.. !

Yer man in the Coombe nearly got lynched for using up 2 doses. This level of incompetence is comparatively off the charts.

Amirani · 27-01-2021 12:09am

KrustyUCC wrote: »

Mistakes shouldn't happen with such a precious resource

It's unforgiveable

Somebody should be held accountable and lose their job for this 'mistake'

Then again it's Ireland so that will never happen

You want to sack some nursing home workers in the middle of a pandemic so you can get a bit of satisfaction?

You're sitting at home, while healthcare workers are doing their best for their patients. These sorts of things happen, but maybe less so when you're sat at home I guess.

Darc19 · 27-01-2021 12:10am

Fly_away wrote: »

This is saddening and anger inducing.

Will you ever fuc off with your hysterical catastrophe syndrome sh1te.

A mistake was made. End of.

weldoninhio · 27-01-2021 12:10am

Brynn Fit Buttermilk wrote: »

Lesson learned hopefully. Always going to be hiccups like this along the way unfortunately.

I’d say this is definitely the only mistake the HSE will make with the vaccine rollout. Definitely. 100%. No more mistakes whatsoever. None.

cannotlogin · 27-01-2021 12:10am

People are human. Errors will happen. Everyone messes up sometimes but a witch hunt does no good. I'm pretty certain whoever is responsible feels pretty crap right now, but the blame game won't help.

They reported it & hopefully others will learnt from it.

A lot of people working on the frontline are exhausted, stressed etc. Mistakes will happen as a result.

Strumms · 27-01-2021 12:17am

Management needed to educate and train staff, do a dry run with dummy shipments in the same packaging, from unloading to storage... and everything in between after and before...

They needed to delegate checks using PST every hour that the vaccines were being staged and stored correctly ....

Under lock and key...

Under correct conditions especially temperature...

That a secondary freezer is available, plugged in and working for backup in case the primary fails..

KrustyUCC · 27-01-2021 12:17am

Amirani wrote: »

You want to sack some nursing home workers in the middle of a pandemic so you can get a bit of satisfaction?

You're sitting at home, while healthcare workers are doing their best for their patients. These sorts of things happen, but maybe less so when you're sat at home I guess.

I'm an essential worker so not sitting at home thanks

I also deal with medical supplies in my job

If I lost that amount of precious vaccines then I wouldn't be left in my job

It's a major major blunder that should not happen especially when we don't have vaccines to waste in this country

I just hope that some residents won't lose their lives over this avoidable blunder

Also hopefully lessons will be learnt in the rest of the HSE

27-01-2021 12:19am

For every case like this that you hear about, there will be several more that don't hit the headlines.
It's probably delayed my vaccination a day or so. 22 July 2023 is my estimated date now ðŸ˜‚

davetherave · 27-01-2021 12:25am

plodder wrote: »

I wonder what instructions did they receive?

Mistakes will be made alright, but it would be nice to know what the cause was.

I'd assume the same guidelines as everyone else

https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/hcpinfo/covid19vaccineinfo4hps/clinicalguidance.pdf

Clinical Guidance for COVID‐19 Vaccination

Mr_Muffin · 27-01-2021 12:29am

Tiny number of vials. Thought it was going to be hundreds.

27-01-2021 12:36am

Strumms wrote: »

Management needed to educate and train staff, do a dry run with dummy shipments in the same packaging, from unloading to storage... and everything in between after and before...

They needed to delegate checks using PST every hour that the vaccines were being staged and stored correctly ....

Under lock and key...

Under correct conditions especially temperature...

That a secondary freezer is available, plugged in and working for backup in case the primary fails..

They are exceeding my expectations to date in the rollout anyway!!

I would most definitely not have said that a month ago as I awaited an expected HSE Administration trainwreck.

NickNickleby · 27-01-2021 12:50am

Quick google shows 1900 doses lost in Boston when the cleaner unplugged the fridge. She's probably up for a death penalty hearing soon :rolleyes:

Another incident in Germany saw hundreds of doses lost.

(Edit: should have looked closer, the German incident didn't refer to loss of vaccine, but the Boston incident still stands. There was another with large numbers, but it was a deliberate act by a nutter in America.) I'm probably due for the drop now...

In the scheme of things, these probably won't even be a miniscule blip on a graph. Its sad that these things happen, but once you put those pesky humans on the job...pffft.

lawrencesummers · 27-01-2021 8:53am

You can be sure of one thing.

With the HSE in charge this won’t be the last vaccine controversy

plodder · 27-01-2021 9:32am

davetherave wrote: »

I'd assume the same guidelines as everyone else

https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/hcpinfo/covid19vaccineinfo4hps/clinicalguidance.pdf

Clinical Guidance for COVID‐19 Vaccination

That's a fairly comprehensive document but over 100 pages long. How much of it is relevant for nursing home staff, I wonder?

Also, it doesn't say a whole lot about the refrigeration requirements at the points of administration, as opposed to "the hubs" (whatever they are). You could be forgiven for thinking that a regular domestic fridge would be adequate there.

Anyway, it was a simple mistake. Calling for people to be sacked is a joke. In fact, I thought the posts were a joke at first.

is_that_so · 27-01-2021 9:43am

lawrencesummers wrote: »

You can be sure of one thing.

With the HSE in charge this won’t be the last vaccine controversy

The HSE just organise the plan and distribution. It's when it gets to the vaccinators there have been issues.

is_that_so · 27-01-2021 9:44am

NickNickleby wrote: »

Quick google shows 1900 doses lost in Boston when the cleaner unplugged the fridge. She's probably up for a death penalty hearing soon :rolleyes:

Another incident in Germany saw hundreds of doses lost.

(Edit: should have looked closer, the German incident didn't refer to loss of vaccine, but the Boston incident still stands. There was another with large numbers, but it was a deliberate act by a nutter in America.) I'm probably due for the drop now...

In the scheme of things, these probably won't even be a miniscule blip on a graph. Its sad that these things happen, but once you put those pesky humans on the job...pffft.

It's been magnified because of where we are currently with supplies but some pretty excessive outrage about it.

lawrencesummers · 27-01-2021 9:57am

is_that_so wrote: »

The HSE just organise the plan and distribution. It's when it gets to the vaccinators there have been issues.

When you put the words plan and HSE in the one sentence the side effects include disaster and fawk ups.

is_that_so · 27-01-2021 10:02am

lawrencesummers wrote: »

When you put the words plan and HSE in the one sentence the side effects include disaster and fawk ups.

There are issues with it and yet they are not responsible for these " disasters". I'd be inclined to trust them more on this as they do it every year successfully, even if it's nowhere near the same scale.

froog · 27-01-2021 10:24am

22 vials which is 132 doses.

https://www.rte.ie/news/leinster/2021/0126/1192206-louth-meath-vaccines/

lawrencesummers · 27-01-2021 11:37am

is_that_so wrote: »

There are issues with it and yet they are not responsible for these " disasters". I'd be inclined to trust them more on this as they do it every year successfully, even if it's nowhere near the same scale.

I’m unsure how any person in this country has faith in the HSE. If the cervical check scandal wasn’t the straw to break that camels back then I’m stumped.

I don’t include front line workers in this because they like the general public are often the victims of the mess created by the HSE.

I have zero faith in their ability to do this correctly, we have seen already that the IT system needed to cover the vaccines wasn’t in place before they began administering it. Families of management getting jabs and now this.

As sure as the sun rises in the morning there will be more issues with the HSE and this vaccine.

To be clear as well, it’s local GP’s and occupational nurses that administer the annual flu jab. When the vaccines for COVID are put in their hands then we might have smooth rollouts.

NickNickleby · 27-01-2021 4:49pm

lawrencesummers wrote: »

I’m unsure how any person in this country has faith in the HSE. If the cervical check scandal wasn’t the straw to break that camels back then I’m stumped.

I don’t include front line workers in this because they like the general public are often the victims of the mess created by the HSE.

I have zero faith in their ability to do this correctly, we have seen already that the IT system needed to cover the vaccines wasn’t in place before they began administering it. Families of management getting jabs and now this.

As sure as the sun rises in the morning there will be more issues with the HSE and this vaccine.

To be clear as well, it’s local GP’s and occupational nurses that administer the annual flu jab. When the vaccines for COVID are put in their hands then we might have smooth rollouts.

I think you're wrong to cite the Cervical Screening Programme as stick to beat the HSE with.

That was a SCREENING programming. Unfortunately, screening programs come with an 'acceptable' level of error. Obviously that means nothing for the poor unfortunate who's cancer has been missed. All a screening program can do is try to catch cancer early before symptoms appear, thereby increasing the chances of a positive outcome. Many people are probably alive today because of the screening program.

The author of this piece is a scientist and retired gynaecologist.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/confusion-over-cervical-cancer-screening-needs-to-be-resolved-once-and-for-all-1.4433326

edit to add: I have no friends or family working in the HSE. But I still think they're playing a blinder with their handling of the pandemic. And yes, I know people who have died of Covid. Their families blame Covid, not the HSE.

HSE confirms a number of vials of COVID19 vaccine have had to be dumped

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