Published: 1/28/2021 10:01:28 PM
Modified: 1/28/2021 10:01:26 PM
SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Moderna determined that 860 doses of its COVID-19 vaccine stored at Springfield Hospital are “effective and safe for use,” according to the Vermont Department of Health.
The doses’ viability came into question on Tuesday after a state temperature monitor indicated that the vaccine had been stored at 9.1 degrees Celsius, above the 8-degree upper limit for the Moderna vaccine’s storage, said Anna Smith, a hospital spokeswoman, in an email Thursday. Meanwhile, two hospital temperature monitors showed that the vaccine had been stored within the acceptable range, she said.
“Based on a deeper review and totality of the facts, Moderna determined none of the doses were impacted by temperature inconsistencies and can be used with full public confidence,” the health department said in a Thursday evening news release.
The health department is working with the hospital to investigate the storage issues and was conducting a site visit on Thursday, the release said.
“The public can have confidence in the care and vaccine they receive from Springfield Hospital,” said Dr. Mark Levine, Vermont’s health commissioner, in the release.
The hospital canceled a vaccination clinic on Wednesday “as a precautionary step” due to the storage issues, Smith said in her email.
It was expecting a delivery of fresh doses for a planned clinic on Friday, she said, and she urged people who have scheduled vaccinations at Springfield Hospital on Friday to keep their appointments. People whose appointments were canceled on Wednesday will be contacted to reschedule, Smith said.
CLAREMONT — Claremont students are slated to return to in-person learning next week and athletics will resu me, after the School Board voted to make the transition at a meeting on Wednesday evening, according to the board’s chairman.
The board voted on Jan. 6 to move to remote learning and subsequently extended the remote learning period until Feb. 1 amid spiking COVID-19 case numbers, including several affecting the city’s schools.
Though the city still had 67 active cases as of Wednesday, that was down from more than 100 earlier in the month, according to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.
“I hear from every quarter that school really is not where the virus is happening,” said Frank Sprague, the board’s chairman, in a Thursday phone interview.
As of Wednesday, Sullivan County, where Claremont sits, had 155 active cases, but Sprague said those numbers are inflated by outbreaks in senior housing and nursing homes, “not an indication at all of what’s going on in the schools.”
Sprague noted that the state appears to have gotten through the post-Christmas surge and he hopes the schools can make it until February vacation without having to return to remote learning.
HANOVER — Dartmouth College had 18 active cases in employees and students on campus or elsewhere in the Upper Valley on Thursday, according to the college’s online dashboard.
In addition, the college had 21 students and six employees in quarantine and 13 students and 22 employees in isolation.
Hanover had a total of 18 cases on Wednesday, while neighbori ng Lebanon had 22; Enfield had 12 and Canaan 10, according to the DHHS. Grafton County, where Hanover sits, had 280 active cases as of Wednesday.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at [email protected] or 603-727-3213.
