300 COVID-19 vaccines rendered unusable in Pueblo due to storage unit malfunction

PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. (KKTV) - As health officials in Colorado rush to vaccinate as many people as possible against COVID-19, hundreds of doses went to waste recently.

The Colorado State Joint Information Center is reporting the State is aware that the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment rendered 300 doses of the Pfizer vaccine unusable following a portable storage unit malfunction. 11 News confirmed the information on Wednesday.

“The state’s goal is to use every single available vaccine, acknowledging that emergencies may occur infrequently,” a representative with the Colorado State Joint Information Center wrote to 11 News.

The Pfizer vaccine needs to be kept at -70 degrees.

As of Wednesday, more than 200,000 have been immunized with at least one dose of a vaccine while nearly 50,000 people have received two doses.