More than 1,000 vaccine doses were damaged in South Florida, and state calls for audit

Feb. 3—More than 1,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses were damaged last week in Palm Beach County, according to the Florida Department of Health. Now, the state is calling for an audit of the Health Care District of Palm Beach County to find out what's going on.

"It is a tragedy that even one dose of this critical resource would go to waste and not be used to save a life from COVID-19," Florida State Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivkees said in a news release Wednesday announcing the audit.

All vaccination providers are required to store and handle COVID-19 vaccines under the conditions outlined in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Storage and Handling Toolkit, according to the Florida Department of Health.

Palm Beach County residents voted to create the Health Care District of Palm Beach County, which has provided an array of health services to the community since 1988, according to the agency. It's governed by a seven-member Board of Commissioners, three of whom are appointed by Florida's governor. Three others are appointed by the Palm Beach County Commission and one is a representative of the state's Department of Health.

The district on Friday told CBS12, a TV station that covers the Palm Beach County area, that 232 vials (approximately 1,160 doses) of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine spoiled because the power supply of the refrigerator they were in was accidentally turned off. The Pfzer vaccine needs to be kept extremely cold — minus 70 degrees celsius. That's colder than winter in Antarctica.

As part of the audit, the health department wants the district to perform "a full accounting of all vaccine-related equipment and procedures it has in place to store and handle the COVID-19 vaccine."

The audit must be completed by Feb. 12 and all findings and corrective actions must be reported to the Florida Department of Health when the audit is finished, according to Wednesday's statement.

"While we must rely on partners to distribute this critical resource, we expect that every provider treat the vaccine as the precious commodity that it is. We hope to see this situation rectified and addressed immediately to ensure the Palm Beach County Health Care District does not let one more dose go to waste," Rivkees said.

This article will be updated.

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