The Health Department is likely to take action against some of its staff for failure to properly preserve COVID-19 vaccine at a health centre at Cherooppa in Kozhikode district of Kerala, two days after around 800 doses dispatched there were found to have been damaged.
Department sources said on Thursday that an inquiry into the incident had revealed that the staff did not ensure that the vaccine vials were stored properly. Health officials said that the vaccine stock arrived by Monday evening. The public health nurse (PHN) who was on duty had left by then.
The PHN directed a staff nurse over the phone to store it in an ice-lined refrigerator that maintains a temperature between 2 degrees Celsius and eight degrees Celsius. However, the nurse chose to keep it in a deep freezer in which the temperature is maintained between -15 degrees Celsius and -25 degrees Celsius. The staff noticed that the vaccine vials were damaged when they opened the boxes ahead of sending them to other vaccination centres on Tuesday.
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The officials said on Thursday that it was the responsibility of the supervisor at the centre as well as the staff who handled the vials to ensure that they were properly stored. V. Jayashree, District Medical Officer (DMO), is expected to forward the inquiry report to the Director of Health Services.
The DMO is also learnt to have directed the staff at all vaccination centres in the district to be on alert to avoid a recurrence of similar incidents. Organisations representing Opposition political parties, meanwhile, staged protests outside the centre against the negligent attitude of the staff.