Wasted vaccine claims 'absolutely not true' says Orthopaedic Hospital boss
The head of Shropshire's Orthopaedic Hospital has hit out at suggestions that the hospital is wasting vaccine.
Mark Brandreth, chief executive of the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital said social media claims were utter nonsense and said the vaccine was too precious to waste one single drop.
He said he was speaking out after seeing staff upset by the claims.
The hospital near Oswestry is the site of the first mass vaccination centre to open in Shropshire. It is using the Pfizer vaccine that has to be stored at extremely low temperatures.
Mr Brandreth said: "There are rumours in the local community that we are wasting vaccine. This is absolutely not true and a scandalous allegation against hard working local NHS staff.
"This vaccine is really, really precious and we haven't wasted a drop. We would never throw away any of the vaccine. I can say that every single one has gone into someone's arm."
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The chief executive said he felt he had to speak up for employees of the hospital, local GPs and volunteers who were working long hours to ensure the vaccination programme went smoothly.
"Many are stepping up to do extra shifts including evening and weekend work and they have been left upset and angry by these false allegations. I have done evening shifts welcoming people myself."
He said that while the take-up rate had been excellent there had been some cases of people not turning up for their appointments.
In such cases when the vaccine had been taken out of the fridge the hospital had a waiting list of people that they could call on so it would not be wasted.
"They might be NHS staff or for instance care staff at the neighbouring Meadowbrook nursing home. Every single one has been used and suggestions that vaccines have been wasted are blatant lies."
"We know how anxious people are to have the vaccine, my own parents are still waiting. And so to think that the community believes that we could waste any is deeply upsetting."
Mr Brandreth said that because the Pfizer vaccine had to be stored at such lower temperatures it was only taken out of the fridges in batches of six.
