N.S. health checking if COVID-19 vaccines kept at proper temperatures during Fiona outages

Widespread power outages caused by post-tropical storm Fiona in Nova Scotia is affecting COVID-19 vaccination appointments, and may lead to some people who received doses after the storm being called back for another one.

Fiona lashed the province Friday night into Saturday, downing trees, washing out roads and cutting power off to hundreds of thousands of Nova Scotia Power customers.

Cape Breton was hit particularly hard, with local states of emergency declared in Victoria County and Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

On Tuesday, the province said Nova Scotians scheduled for a COVID-19 or other vaccination this week may need to rebook their appointments because of the impact of power outages on vaccine supplies.

“For the COVID-19 vaccine and others to remain effective, they must be stored at a specific temperature, part of what is known as the ‘cold chain,'” the province said in release.

“Widespread power outages caused by hurricane Fiona have disrupted the cold chain at some pharmacies and other sites where vaccines were stored.”

Public Health will now need to confirm that vaccines have “maintained the appropriate temperature.” This task will take about five to seven business days, as staff assess the cold chain at pharmacies, doctors’ offices and other sites in the province.

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People who received a dose of vaccine since Saturday may be called back to receive another dose if it was found that their vaccine was stored at an “improper” temperature.

“If they do not receive a call, that means their immunizer was unaffected. Anyone who is concerned about a dose received in recent days should contact the provider where they received their vaccine,” the province said.

Some appointments this week will be cancelled as the verification continues. People who were booked for a shot may receive a call from their pharmacy or clinic, or get an email from CanImmunize.

The province noted its supplies of Imvamune, the monkeypox vaccine, were not affected because power was maintained at its storage site in Dartmouth.