The National Guard moved eight transport coolers for COVID-19 vaccines from Chattanooga to Shelby County on Wednesday to help vaccination efforts in Memphis as the county health department there is under investigation for vaccine stockpiling and mismanagement resulting in around 2,500 wasted or missing doses and another 51,480 unused doses held in inventory.
Authority for vaccine management in Shelby County was taken from the local health department and given to the City of Memphis as part of an ongoing Tennessee Department of Health investigation that began last Friday.
The health department’s inventory was transferred to a local hospital and medical lab after the investigation revealed a series of distribution failures ranging from potential theft of vaccines to vaccinating two children, who are not authorized by the FDA to receive COVID-19 vaccines.
Dr. Lisa Piercey, Tennessee health commissioner, said during a news briefing Friday that state officials remain in Shelby County to assist with the transition and provide oversight. The FBI is also investigating the potential theft, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning to launch its own investigation, Piercey said.
“At the end of the day, the leader is accountable for making sure what he or she is hearing and being told is accurate and complete,” Piercey said. “Not only was the leadership there being told everything’s OK, we don’t have any evidence that they actually verified that for themselves. We don’t see any process for accountability or confirmation there.”
Piercey’s comments offered more information about the handling of vaccines in West Tennessee and efforts by the state to improve distribution. Shelby County is one of six metro counties in the state, including Hamilton County, that collaborate with the state but operate autonomously.
Earlier this week, Piercey said winter weather may have caused delays in Shelby County’s distribution. On Friday, she said the mismanagement of vaccines was not due to the weather.
The state’s top doctor said the issues in Shelby County are not reflective of other efforts in the state to distribute vaccines.
“We’re talking about one county out of 95,” she said. “We’ve got 94 counties that are doing really well under difficult circumstances. That includes our 89 rural county health departments. We get compliments every single day on how well they’re serving their individual communities, and that also includes the five other metros who are doing a stellar job.”
Becky Barnes, administrator for the Hamilton County Health Department, said local workers are doing everything they can to safeguard the vaccine and get it to people in the area. During a Thursday livestream with Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger, Barnes said the vaccine is stored locally in an ultracold freezer on loan from Blood Assurance. The room where the cooler is kept is accessible only through a monitored keycard entry.
County health department staff monitor expiration dates and only doses for the next day’s appointments are thawed, Barnes said.
No doses have expired in the county so far and there have been 24 wasted doses out of the 38,277 doses the health department has administered, Barnes said. Those wasted doses were due to syringe malfunction or the sudden movement of a patient, she said.
The county administered nearly 12,500 doses in the past week with around 24,300 people having received both shots.
Contact Elizabeth Fite at efite@timesfreepress.com or follow her on Twitter @ecfite. Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @news4mass.