The National Health Fund NHF says over 9 hundred thousand doses of COVID vaccines have been affected by the breakdown in operations of one of its cold rooms.

The NHF  revealed Thursday that  2 weeks ago there was a breakdown in the operation of a cold room at the pharmaceutical warehouse and that the police have been called in to investigate.

An auditing firm has also been asked to determine whether the NHF’s management followed the standard operating procedures for temperature monitoring of cold rooms at the pharmaceutical warehouse, upon being alerted to the temperature irregularity.

The matter was raised during the Health Ministry’s COVID Conversations press briefing, with questions posed by journalists to Acting Chairman of the National Health Fund, Shane Dalling.

Mr. Dalling said that preliminary checks revealed that a wire for the cooling system had been cut.

IRIE FM News asked if he suspected sabotage .

Meantime, Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton has indicated that guidance is being sought as to the next steps, regarding some COVID vaccines that were compromised, following cold storage challenges at the national health fund pharmaceutical warehouse.

It’s reported that last month a wire to the cooling system had been cut. This resulted in the vaccines not being kept at the required storage temperature for some hours, putting their effectiveness at risk.

Dr. Tufton said the ministry is awaiting a response from clinicians on whether or not the vaccines can still be administered.

He sought to assure that the management challenges at the NHF are being addressed.