A power outage earlier this week spoiled an unknown amount of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines at the First Nations Tl’etinqox community in the Chilcotin.
In a memo from First Nations Health Authority that was posted on the Anaham Sage Health Clinic Facebook, it said there was a break in the cold chain for the vaccine that was being held in the community’s fridge.
It went on to say that when the chain is broken the vaccine may not work to provide protection and mRNA vaccines such as Moderna are especially sensitive to temperature.
First Nations Health Authority said nurses returned the vaccine to its proper temperature as soon as they could but the manufacturer determined it was not usable.
Tl’etinqox Chief Joe Alphonse said he has been in touch with everyone who could help them out.
“We have been in dialogue with First Nations Health Authority, Health Canada, anybody that we feel could potentially help our situation. We’re in the middle of an outbreak within our community and it’s a pretty dire situation”.
Alphonse said they had already vaccinated 130 Tl’etinqox community members.
First Nations Health Authority also stated in the memo that they remain committed to ensuring that as soon as new vaccines are available they will work with community leadership to hold another vaccine clinic.
The Tl’etinqox community went into a lockdown this past Wednesday (January 20th)
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