Tennessee: Vaccine stolen and given to children in one county

Nashville, Tennessee-Top of Tennessee health Authorities said Friday that the state had requested federal law enforcement agencies to investigate alleged theft. Coronavirus Vaccinated in the state’s most populous county, volunteers have announced that their two children have been improperly vaccinated, even though young minors were not allowed injections.

Details are after the state previously announced that approximately 2,400 COVID-19 vaccinations in Shelby County were wasted due to misunderstandings and inadequate records management in the region. health Department. The county also had accumulated approximately 30,000 excessive vaccine doses in its inventory.

Health commissioner Lisa Piercy refused to elaborate on the scope of the alleged theft, but the Shelby County Health Department requested the state to initiate its own investigation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He said he only warned the state about the stolen dose.

However, Piercey said the stolen shots are believed to have been taken by volunteers who fled with a syringe vaccinated. It is not the actual vial where the shot is stored.

FBI spokesman Joel Ciscovic said Friday that the FBI was aware of the situation, but did not confirm or deny whether the investigation was underway.

Meanwhile, Piercy said the state is still in dispute over how volunteers vaccinated two children on February 3. Piercy said a mother with two children had arrived at the vaccination site and all three had reservations. It is unclear if the children will receive a second dose.

In addition to the approximately 2,400 shots reported in vain, the Department of Health added vaccine Wasted in Shelby County this week. After the vaccination event on Tuesday, 64 unused doses were wasted and an additional 12 doses were not considered.

“In the end, there seems to be a lack of accountability and leadership in a sense. It definitely caused potential harm to some people,” he said.

Pearcy emphasized that despite last week’s exposure, her focus was on getting as many shots as possible in her arms.

With news of theft vaccine The state health department was given to the children and also provided an email communication with Dr. Alisa Hauschalter, director of health at Shelby County in Memphis.

Earlier this week, Hausalter called Dr. Michel Fiscus, director of the State Health Department’s vaccination program, on February 13, leaving a message to discuss wasteful vaccines. Haushalter said he had not spoken to the state until February 19. When the investigation began after her first official statement about the useless vaccine.

According to an email released by the state, Haushalter sent an email to Fiscus on February 17, but did not mention wasted doses. Instead, she asked Fiscus to contact her “if your time allowed.” Fiscus said there was no urgency for Howshalter to contact her.

In an email to Fiscus, Piercey said he had talked with Haushalter again for 15 minutes on February 16th, saying “no mention of expired products”.

Haushalter also said on Wednesday that he learned about additional wasted vaccines on February 13, but six days later, on February 19, he received about 1,315 doses of vaccine that had expired and were discarded in the middle of a series of vaccines. A winter storm that closes the vaccination site that didn’t release the information until it was announced.

Haushalter says she hasn’t ruled out resignation.

The local health department did not immediately respond to e-mail questions about suspected theft and vaccines provided to children.

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Sainz reported from Memphis, Tennessee.

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In previous versions of this report, the name of FBI spokesman Joel Siskovic was misspelled.