'Bad Batch' Of Moderna Vaccines Pulled From Distribution, Putting Counties Further Behind
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Officials say six people who got the Moderna coronavirus vaccine at a mass vaccination site went into shock, now state health leaders are warning about the potential of an allergic reaction.
Thousands of doses have been pulled from distribution sites across the state.
El Dorado County received almost 1,000 doses, handing out 390 shots. County health leaders say no one had a reaction, and they'll now make up for what's lost with inventory the county has in stock. Leaders say they don't think they'll be put further behind.
Carla Haas with El Dorado County said, "Our hands are really tied to a large degree. We can only receive what's given to us."
Other counties including Yuba, Sutter, Placer and Stanislaus say they got thousands of doses of the Moderna "lot" but didn't hand any out. They expect this to further delay getting vaccines out.
Stanislaus County is closing all of its clinics starting Tuesday and is now waiting on replacements from the state.
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Infectious Disease Expert Dr. Jeffrey Klausner calls it bad timing as another variant of COVID-19 arrives in California. Also, promised increased shipments of the vaccine coming from the federal government were discovered to not exist.
While no local counties are reporting any cases of the variation, Dr. Klausner says it's too soon to know how widespread it may be.
"The U.S. has done perhaps not the best job of surveillance of looking at these variances, just now recognizing it is important There's been a lot of step-up and interaction, especially in California," he said.
CBS13 also checked with the major medical groups about the Moderna vaccine. Kaiser said they did give Moderna shots from this batch but had no bad reactions.
UC Davis and Sutter health systems both said they did not give any.
"As soon as we were made aware of the Moderna lot issue early Friday morning, we pulled it from our supply," Sutter Health officials said in a statement. "None of our employees or patients were given vaccine from this lot."