THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2021 A3
LOCAL, STATE & REGION
COVID-19 | Vaccination campaign
State scrambles after 42 vaccine doses wasted
BY FEDOR ZARKHIN
The Oregonian
Two Portland hospital systems
threw out more than three dozen
coronavirus vaccine doses even as
Oregon’s top health official said his
agency knew of no wasted vaccines.
Oregon Health & Science Univer-
sity lost 15 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine
doses after one vial broke and two
were mixed improperly, a hospital
spokeswoman said. Legacy Health
lost 27 doses when it couldn’t find
health care workers to take surplus
vaccine in the short time before it ex-
pires, a Legacy spokesman said.
And yet, the director of the Oregon
Health Authority appeared unaware
that any doses had been lost in Ore-
gon.
“We have not received any reports
of spoilage from sites that are admin-
istering the vaccine, and that is some-
thing that we keep track of,” Director
Patrick Allen said at a news confer-
ence Tuesday. “Vaccines are being
handled and administered in a proper
and timely way.”
The agency said it learned of the
wasted doses from The Oregonian
and then confirmed them with OHSU
because people need to be able to take
time off if they experience side effects.
“Having more doses than expected
has impacted our ability to schedule
staff for their vaccine effectively,” Ter-
rett said.
and Legacy, despite Legacy saying it
had previously reported the informa-
tion to the state as required.
“We will follow up and make sure
this wastage is properly documented,”
health authority spokesman Jonathan
Modie said in an email.
It’s unclear if other doses in Oregon
have been wasted.
Oregon’s vaccination effort
The wasted doses reflect just 0.07%
of the 55,000 vaccines administered in
Oregon so far. And the lost doses have
been more than made up for by the
unexpected extra doses health care
workers have found in overfilled Pfiz-
er-BioNTech vaccine vials.
But the disconnect between hos-
pitals’ reported data and health offi-
cials’ statements points to yet more
evidence of growing pains as the state
faces criticism for its slow vaccination
pace and outlines plans to soon vacci-
nate 12,000 people a day.
The Oregon Health Authority said
it is to be expected that some vaccine
will spoil in the process of such a mas-
sive vaccination project. Nothing yet
points to vaccines being wasted due to
negligence, the agency said.
Mark Graves/The Oregonian file
Ansu Drammeh, a registered nurse who has been on the front line fighting coronavi-
rus for the last 10 months, was the first person to receive the vaccine at Oregon Health
& Science University on Dec. 16.
“We believe that our health system
partners are managing their vaccine
responsibly and doing everything that
they can to minimize waste,” Modie
said. “We have seen no evidence that
vaccine is being handled in anything
less than a responsible manner.”
Legacy lost doses because Pfiz-
er-BioNTech’s vaccine sometimes has
an extra one or two doses per vial,
spokesman Brian Terrett said. That
meant that Legacy workers would get
through the list of people scheduled
to get a shot before the vials they had
unpacked ran out.
But because the doses have an ex-
piration date measured in hours, not
days, doses are lost if someone can’t be
found to take a vaccine. Finding such a
person can be a challenge, Terrett said,
Tracking spoilage
The hospital system has reported its
lost doses to a statewide vaccine track-
ing system, Terrett said.
OHSU pharmacists lost 15 doses
of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, said
spokeswoman Tamara Hargens-Brad-
ley. One vial containing five doses
broke, Hargens-Bradley said, and an-
other two vials containing a combined
10 doses were mixed incorrectly.
Hargens-Bradley did not respond
when asked whether the hospital had
reported the lost doses to the state.
It’s possible that OHSU and Legacy
reported the wasted doses to a state-
wide vaccine tracking system, as re-
quired, but that the health authority
wasn’t aware of it.
“We’ll check (the state’s vaccine
tracking system) and follow up as
needed with these providers, and with
any providers that have reported such
losses,” Modie said.
218 inmates have COVID-19 PORTLAND
at one Washington prison 1 dead in Legionnaires’ disease outbreak
Associated Press
Associated Press
Washington state officials say
more than 200 inmates at Larch
Corrections Center northeast of
Vancouver have tested positive for
COVID-19.
The Washington State Depart-
ment of Corrections said Larch
Correction Center had six incarcer-
ated individuals that tested positive
for COVID-19. In the bulletin re-
leased Monday, the prison reported
218 inmates had tested positive.
The prison, located in Yacolt,
Washington, has a capacity of 480
inmates.
State officials said all inmates
who tested positive are being
housed together to reduce the
spread of the virus, which is stan-
dard protocol.
COVID-19 outbreaks have also
been reported in prisons in Ore-
gon.
PORTLAND — An outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at
a North Portland apartment complex has killed one person
and sickened three others, county health officials said.
Multnomah County health officials said Tuesday they
told more than 100 residents of Rosemont Court on Dekum
Street to leave after residents contracted pneumonia.
The health department said experts linked the outbreak
Monday to the apartment’s water system. County officials
are working to clean the building’s plumbing system and re-
move any remaining traces of Legionella, the bacteria that
causes the disease.
The health department is working with Northwest Hous-
Up To
ing Alternatives, which owns Rosemont Court, to find other
places for residents to stay. Multnomah County spokes-
woman Julie Sullivan-Springhetti said residents were staying
in Portland-area hotels, per a contract with the county, while
health officials investigate the outbreak source.
People can contract the disease when they breathe in very
small droplets of water with the bacteria. Most exposed to it
don’t get sick but some people can contract severe pneumo-
nia. Symptoms include fever, fatigue, muscle aches and head-
ache. More serious symptoms include cough and chest pain.
The disease is not spread person to person.
As of Monday, 20 residents had left the building and offi-
cials said more were leaving Tuesday.
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