Over 4,500 Colorado Vaccine Recipients Need To Be Revaccinated After Clinic Error

Thousands of Coloradoans will need to get their COVID vaccinations again after cold storage error at a vaccination clinic in Colorado Springs.

As many 4,500 people that received either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID shot at the Dr. Moma Health and Wellness Clinic in El Paso County will need to be revaccinated after health officials found the clinic was not following proper storage procedures for the vaccine, according to KDVR, a Fox affiliate in Denver.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said it was unable to determine if the vaccine doses administered were viable because the clinic failed to properly document the temperature storage.

The Pfizer vaccine can be stored for up to five days refrigerated at 35 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit, while the Moderna vaccine needs to be store at a temperature of 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 30 days in order to maintain its usability.

The clinic has canceled over 7,000 shot appointments that were slated through May 8, KDVR reported.

To manage the error, the CDPHE released guidance to those individuals that had received their vaccination from the Dr. Moma Health and Wellness Clinic.

Vaccine recipients that received one dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the clinic should consider that dose invalid and receive two additional doses of the vaccine, with the first Pfizer dose 21 days after the initial invalid dose and final Pfizer dose 21 days later, the CDPHE said.

Those that received the Moderna vaccine should also consider their vaccine dose invalid and receive two additional Moderna doses with the first 28 days after the initial invalid dose and the final Moderna dose 28 days after that, the agency said.

The health department did indicate for people that did not know which vaccine dose they had been administered that they should receive two additional doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine with the first dose 28 days after their initial invalid doses and the final dose 28 days later.

For individuals that received both doses of the COVID vaccine at the clinic, the CDPHE is recommending, with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to consider both doses of the vaccine invalid and receive one additional dose of the Pfizer vaccine at least 21 days after the last COVID dose or 28 days after the last Moderna dose.

If it is unclear which vaccine was received in two doses, either dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine is acceptable at least 28 days after the last COVID dose, CDPHE said.

To find a provider to schedule an appointment for a COVID vaccination, Colorado residents can search a list of online providers on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment site.

The CDC does not recommend getting more than three doses of any COVID vaccine regardless of its validity, the CDPHE said in its guidance information.

The news of the clinic error in Colorado comes just a week after a mass vaccination site in Commerce City was temporarily shut down after 13 people had adverse reactions from the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine.

Patient symptoms included nausea and dizziness, with two people being hospitalized out of an abundance of caution while the remaining patients were observed by medical staff onsite. As many as 1,700 people were vaccinated at the clinic that day.