100,000 vaccine doses perish after Health Board warehouse malfunction

Health Board cold storage facility. Photo: Imre Kaas

Last week saw around 100,000 doses of Covid vaccine and other medicines perish after a temperature surge in a Health Board warehouse. Minister of Health and Labor Tanel Kiik (Center Party) and Director of the Health Board Üllar Lanno had no answers on Tuesday in terms of what happened and why no one learned of the fault in two and a half days. Kiik described the incident as very serious and said a committee headed by the state secretary should look into the matter.

Three layers of security

Deputy Director of the Health Board Mari-Anne Härma said that alarm systems meant to warn against rising temperatures failed to go off. Head of State Real Estate Ltd. Kati Kusmin added: “Based on what we know, the cause is sustained high temperatures. The equipment had undergone scheduled maintenance but for some reason failed to counteract the heatwave. We will go through all scenarios once more.” Üllar Lanno said that the warehouse had a three-stage control system the last link in which covered power outages and that the system had been tested, while something nonetheless went wrong.

State Real Estate Ltd. (RKAS) is responsible for the technical condition of systems in the buildings they maintain. Kati Kusmin said that the company’s technician arrived 30 minutes after the abnormal temperature surge was finally discovered on June 25.

The temperature in the warehouses was still uneven a day after the situation normalized and started to spike again during the night of June 26. This time, the alarm was triggered when the temperature reached 9 degrees that allowed the situation to be resolved quickly.

Mari-Anne Härma said that the temperature surge caused at least 100,000 doses of vaccines and medicines to perish, including 68,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine Estonia was set to donate to other countries. Doses of rotavirus and polio vaccines used in maternity wards were also lost. Härma said that short-term problems in supplying maternity hospitals with vaccines could arise.

Total damage has not been calculated yet as the board is waiting for manufacturers to say which products are affected by such temperature changes. The State Agency of Medicines will make the final decision in terms of which products can still be used.

Lanno said that €1.15 million worth of AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria vaccine will definitely have to be written off. “The Health Board has insured all products. We have already notified the insurance provider,” he said, adding that the board’s cost-sharing obligation is 10 percent. Because the two warehouses affected hold at least €3 million worth of vaccines and medicines, total damage could be greater still.

Estonia’s reputation is also at risk as so many perished doses of vaccine are sure to merit international attention. Härma said that other countries have been forced to write off vaccine doses for failure to administer them in time.

Luckily, the warehouse affected only held a small part of AstraZeneca vaccine Estonia has procured for the purpose of making it available internationally. “Estonia has decided to donate 900,000 doses of vaccine. Most of those doses are still being manufactured. We are set to take delivery of enough vaccine to keep all of our promises,” Tanel Kiik said.

Cyberattack not suspected

Despite the Midsummer heatwave, Estonia is still far off the hottest places in the world, while other countries are perfectly capable of storing vaccines.

Kiik, Lanno, Härma and Kusmin repeatedly said during the Tuesday press conference that something like that should not have happened. All we have are unanswered questions. Why did the alarm fail to go off for two and a half days after the temperature first started climbing (as revealed by records)? Why did the alarm work as intended the day after the situation was normalized?

One cannot help but wonder whether the temperature surge and the failed alarm could have been intentional. Lanno and Härma were reluctant to go along with such speculation, while they also failed to provide any explanation. The healthcare minister said he will wait for the report of an investigative committee. Kati Kusmin blamed the unusually hot weather that put the cooling system under increased pressure. “Secondly, automated and backed up alarm systems malfunctioned. Such incidents are unacceptable and we will work with the Health Board to determine what caused it and how to rule it out in the future,” she added. However, it remains unclear how what was at best a moderate heatwave could have had such a profound effect on cooling and alarm systems.

Postimees’ speculation of a possible cyberattack did not find traction with Lanno and Härma.

The Health Board director said he will also wait for the results of the investigative committee to be curated by the state secretary. “We will have clarity at one point and steps will need to be taken once responsibility has been ascertained,” he assured.