California will resume using questioned doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

As of Wednesday, Oregon vaccination sites had administered 30,803 doses from the lot.

SACRAMENTO - California State Epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan issued the following statement today advising providers that they can immediately resume the administration of lot 41L20A of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, which was temporarily paused on Sunday due to possible allergic reactions.

Moderna said Tuesday it was cooperating with CDPH in the investigation and doesn't know of "comparable clusters of adverse events" from other vaccination centers using vaccine from that lot.

El Dorado County received approximately 1,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine lot in question and distributed approximately 390 vaccines to public health clinics and a portion to Safeway pharmacies. "We are working closely with the California Department of Public Health, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Moderna to investigate these potential adverse events".

Almost 2000 doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine were spoiled at a Boston-area VA facility after a cleaning contractor accidentally loosened a plug for a freezer, according to a report. "The Western States Scientific Safety Review Committee will continue to monitor further reports and will consider any additional guidance states receive from the federal government".

Pan said fewer than 10 people required medical attention during a 24-hour period after receiving the vaccine from that lot at one community site.

California chose to hold up the shipment of 330,000 doses earlier this week following a cluster of severe allergic reactions at one clinic that was administering the vaccine. Pan said that all of the individuals who had reactions "are home and well". More than 307,000 doses remain in storage.

A release from the Oregon Health Authority said that lot has been associated with six adverse events at a single site in California. 57,400 doses of the batch have been distributed to 118 vaccination sites throughout Oregon, OHA said, and the majority of them have already been administered.

The coronavirus vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech are the only ones now being administered in the United States.