Expired vaccine: Hundreds of family doctor patients also affected - almost 1,600 doses of Biontech destroyed

Created: 01/11/2022Updated: 01/11/2022, 6:08 PM

From: Josef Ametsbichler

Corona vaccine.

(Symbolic picture) © picture alliance / dpa / Christophe Gateau

As part of the breakdown at the Ebersberg vaccination center, numerous vaccination doses had to be destroyed.

In addition, family doctor patients were probably also vaccinated with the expired product.

Ebersberg

- The breakdown in the Ebersberg vaccination center is going in circles: As reported, the operating company Tresec announced that at the beginning of January up to 1,800 people had been vaccinated with a vaccine from the manufacturer Biontech, which had expired six days ago.

Now it turns out that up to 300 people who want to be vaccinated are affected who have received their dose from a general practitioner.

As the editors learned, the government of Upper Bavaria had written to the general practitioners two days before the supposed expiry of the vaccination doses, which had expired at the turn of the year, because the Ebersberg vaccination center could give 450 vials of Biontech, each with six vaccination doses, to general practitioners.

300 expired cans handed over to general practitioners - around 1600 cans destroyed

According to the head of the vaccination center, Liam Klages, 50 of these were handed in and 261 bottles were destroyed due to a lack of buyers.

With the current shortage of supplies, almost 1,600 Biontech vaccination doses were destroyed - and around 300 expired doses were given to resident doctors.

"We only get a fraction of what we order," says the coordinator of general practitioners in the district, Marc Block, general practitioner in Zorneding. And vaccination center boss Klages notes that the difficult to estimate deliveries made planning for the vaccination center difficult. Especially since it is not clear in advance what remaining shelf life the vaccine will have upon delivery.

As for the consequences of giving a vaccine to a patient who has passed the sell-by date, Dr.

Marc Block the assessment of the vaccination center.

“From a medical point of view, this is to be assessed as unproblematic.” Especially since the shelf life of the Comirnaty vaccine has been revised upwards several times.

It is conceivable that the protective cover of the vaccine will dissolve over time and so the effect will deteriorate.

The offer of the vaccination center to the affected patients for a free antibody test is therefore "very sensible".

In response to the inoculation of the expired Biontech vaccine, the company operating the Ebersberg vaccination center dismissed two senior employees.

They disregarded clear service instructions.

Am i concerned?

If your vaccination with "Comirnaty" from Biontech-Pfizer took place between January 4th and 6th and has the lot number SDEJ8, you can contact the vaccination center on tel. (0 80 92) 26 39 912 or make an appointment online .tresec.com arrange a free antibody test.

You can find more news from Ebersberg and the region here.

By the way: Everything from the region is also available in our regular Ebersberg newsletter.