(MURFREESBORO) Rutherford County Schools received 1,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine this past Thursday (2/25/2021) for an upcoming employee clinic, but the school district must dispose of those vaccines after a storage error was discovered.

The doses needed for the vaccination clinic were then moved to a refrigerator and the staff used the supplied digital data logger to monitor the temperature. Friday morning, the digital data logger initially showed the temperature was correct, but then later gave an error code.

Upon checking with the Tennessee Department of Health about the error code, the health services department learned it was not supposed to store any of the doses in that particular freezer because it was not an approved model and the temperature had not been under constant monitoring. 

A vaccination clinic for 320 employees is planned for Saturday at the district’s Central Office. Fortunately, the school district was able to partner with the local Health Department and vaccinate county school 320 employees. The Health Department will work with the school district to administer the second dose of those vaccines, as well.

Director of Schools Bill Spurlock said, “We deeply regret this error and have worked throughout the day with the state and local Health Department to better understand the issue and to ensure this type of mistake is not repeated.”

The school district has been working with community partners to offer vaccination clinics for employees. A generous donation from Twelve Stone Health Partners lead to a clinic for staff members on Friday (2/26/2021). The clinic was held at Eagleville School. In addition, Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital held an 800 employee clinic at the hospital for Rutherford County School employees on Saturday.