KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After Lawrence Memorial Hospital had to toss 570 Johnson & Johnson vaccines this week due to a transfer error, the hospital will receive 600 replacement doses next week.
In an interview with 41 Action News Rebecca Smith, Executive Director of the LMH Health Foundation, said LMH will receive the vaccines from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
"We have learned today the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has notified Douglas County that they will send 600 replacement Johnson & Johnson doses for next week," Smith said. "So we are very, very grateful for their understanding and assistance here and we will work with our partners and unified command to make sure we can vaccinate as many eligible people as possible."
According to Smith, the error happened after the county health department transferred the vaccines which were refrigerated, to LMH.
The vaccines had already been thawed and without knowing, LMH followed protocol and placed the vaccines in a freezer.
Instead, LMH should've placed the vaccines in refrigerated storage rather than freezer storage, according to Smith.
The hospital reached out to Johnson & Johnson to see if the vaccines were salvageable, but the company said they had to be discarded.
"We really feel like at this point it's our responsibility to own that mistake and to ensure that nothing like this happens going forward," Smith said.
