Deaconess officials make sure COVID-19 vaccines aren’t wasted

WARRICK CO., Ind. (WFIE) - We are learning more from local health officials about how they are making sure the vaccine does not go to waste.

The Pfizer vaccine has to be kept at ultra cold temperatures. Once it is taken out of the freezer, they have to put it in a refrigerator within three minutes.

Even then, it will expire after five days. Right now, those who fall within Phase 1A are being vaccinated.

Those are our healthcare workers and most vulnerable to COVID-19.

But at the end of each day, Deaconess reaches out to those in Phase 1B, which includes our first responders, police, fire, and EMS workers, to see if they would like to be vaccinated with the doses that are leftover.

“So we really have to look at the schedule for the following day to make sure that we are pulling the right amount, we’re labeling it with the correct expiration. We have to, obviously, do it very quickly,” shared Brian Spencer, pharmacy service line manager. “So we have a whole team in pharmacy that is taking care of that.”

Up to this point, Spencer tells us that no doses have gone to waste, and he is very pleased with how his team has managed the vaccine storage.

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