Covid vaccine hopes cruelly dashed as 'fridge failure' destroys doses at Rushden surgery

Vulnerable old people across East Northamptonshire have had their hopes of a pre-Christmas Covid vaccine jab destroyed after a storage fridge failure, it is understood.

Harborough Field Surgery in Newton Road, Rushden, had been acting as the central vaccine hub for surgeries including Parklands, Rushden Medical Centre, Higham Ferrers and Spinneybrook Medical Centre, Irthlingborough.

The fragile vaccine was to be administered to clinically-selected over-80s on three days beginning on Wednesday, December 16, with clinics open for 12 hours.

But on Thursday, patients who had been expecting to keep appointments were told to stay away as the vaccine was no longer available.

One 80-year-old patient, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "I was told that the vaccine was no longer available because they had had a problem with their fridge.

"I had been called about an hour before to come up for the appointment."

The precious vials of life-saving Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are able to provide 975 doses.

They need to be stored carefully at -70C before being thawed and can only be moved a certain number of times before being used.

It is believed that the surgery staff had successfully managed to vaccinate people given Wednesday appointments.

A spokesman for Harborough Field Surgery said: "Harborough Field Surgery would like to apologise to our elderly and vulnerable patients who had their vaccination delayed yesterday and for the wait they experienced.

"This vaccine poses a number of complex logistical challenges and must be stored at the correct temperature prior to use. We apologise for needing to reschedule some vaccinations, and will ensure people are invited again as soon as possible."

According to the latest Government figures there were 90 new infections in East Northants in the past week.

NHS England has been contacted for a comment.