Medical centre dumped bad jabs

THE Drayton Medical Centre has dumped about 300 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine after staff found they had been incorrectly stored while en route to Toowoomba.

An internal mechanism stored within the shipment recorded it moving outside the safe temperature range.

The centre has already started the vaccination program for about 900 patients and discarding the spoiled does will delay the local rollout.

Rural Doctors Association of Australia President John Hall was aware of the spoilage and said it was not the first time vaccines had been ruined during the national rollout.

“It is rare, but it is a sign the system is working,” he said.

“We have a remote temperature system that is stored in the vaccine boxes.

“Staff pull them out and run them through a computer to make sure the cold chain has been maintained.”

The system is common for the transport and storage of all temperature sensitive medications.

“It is a good system and I don’t see it as anybody’s fault,” Dr Hall said.

“It would have been far worse if the temperature change was not picked up and vaccines were used.”

On Thursday Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the government recommended people under the age of 50 not receive the AstraZeneca vaccine, after reports of blood clotting in young people.

Dr HaLl called on the government to fast track deliveries of the alternatives.

“The Novavax vaccine is effective and has not had the same reports of complications, there are several candidate vaccines that Australia has pre-ordered, such as the Johnson and Johnson vaccine that we have to accelerate access to,” he said.