WILDWOOD, MO ( KPLR ) -
Officials in the Rockwood School district say a malfunctioning refrigerator is to blame for nearly two-thousand doses of the elusive H1-N1 Flu vaccine having to be thrown away.
It was about three weeks ago when officials say they received 1831 doses of the vaccine from the St. Louis County Health Department. The vaccine was stored in a district warehouse in Wildwood where the temperature was being checked twice daily.
Officials say over a weekend, and between the checks, the thermostat went bad, causing the vaccine to spoil.
"It's obviously regrettable and I do think it's bad luck, but sometimes things happen over which we have no control," district spokesperson Kim Cranston said Thursday night.
Parents we spoke to at a district awards banquet Thursday were forgiving of the error, even though they have kids who have not yet been vaccinated.
"I feel terrible for the school district," Bill Schmidt told us. "It's a very unfortunate circumstance given the need for getting the H1N1Vaccines out."
Another Rockwood dad, Joe Virruso, agrees.
"It's just a case of bad luck that's all. I'm not here to blame anybody for it. Things happen. From what I understand it just overheated."
The Rockwood district has 22-thousand students, and officials say the 1800 doses were not going to vaccinate a large number of the total student population.
Just the same, the big roll out of vaccine by the St. Louis County Department of Health the previous weekend made only 10-thousand doses available to the general public. The Rockwood loss is equivalent to nearly twenty percent of that number.
Rockwood officials say they'll be receiving about 2000 replacement doses on Friday. They've made arrangements to store all vaccine at nearby St. Claire Hospital until its distributed. Cranston says the district is out of the vaccine storage business.
"Obviously our warehouse was not equipped to handle this type of vaccination product."
It was about three weeks ago when officials say they received 1831 doses of the vaccine from the St. Louis County Health Department. The vaccine was stored in a district warehouse in Wildwood where the temperature was being checked twice daily.
Officials say over a weekend, and between the checks, the thermostat went bad, causing the vaccine to spoil.
"It's obviously regrettable and I do think it's bad luck, but sometimes things happen over which we have no control," district spokesperson Kim Cranston said Thursday night.
Parents we spoke to at a district awards banquet Thursday were forgiving of the error, even though they have kids who have not yet been vaccinated.
"I feel terrible for the school district," Bill Schmidt told us. "It's a very unfortunate circumstance given the need for getting the H1N1Vaccines out."
Another Rockwood dad, Joe Virruso, agrees.
"It's just a case of bad luck that's all. I'm not here to blame anybody for it. Things happen. From what I understand it just overheated."
The Rockwood district has 22-thousand students, and officials say the 1800 doses were not going to vaccinate a large number of the total student population.
Just the same, the big roll out of vaccine by the St. Louis County Department of Health the previous weekend made only 10-thousand doses available to the general public. The Rockwood loss is equivalent to nearly twenty percent of that number.
Rockwood officials say they'll be receiving about 2000 replacement doses on Friday. They've made arrangements to store all vaccine at nearby St. Claire Hospital until its distributed. Cranston says the district is out of the vaccine storage business.
"Obviously our warehouse was not equipped to handle this type of vaccination product."
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