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Turlock vaccine clinic on hold
covid vaccine clinic line
Community members wait in long lines to receive COVID-19 vaccinations in Modesto. The Turlock vaccination clinic planned to open this week has been postponed (Photo contributed).

The COVID-19 vaccination clinics that were slated to open Tuesday in Turlock and Modesto had to be postponed after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning for a batch of vaccines that caused some allergic reactions, the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency reported.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, Moderna, and the California Department of Public Health are investigating Moderna Lot 041L20A after some people had to seek medical treatment for allergic reactions to the vaccine. The individuals were administered the shots at a clinic in San Diego.

"Our goal is to provide the COVID vaccine safely, swiftly and equitably," said California State Epidemiologist Dr. Erica S. Pan. "A higher-than-usual number of possible allergic reactions were reported with a specific lot of Moderna vaccine administered at one community vaccination clinic. Fewer than 10 individuals required medical attention over the span of 24 hours. Out of an extreme abundance of caution and also recognizing the extremely limited supply of vaccine, we are recommending that providers use other available vaccine inventory and pause the administration of vaccines from Moderna Lot 041L20A until the investigation by the CDC, FDA, Moderna and the state is complete. We will provide an update as we learn more."

The SCHSA was going to open vaccination clinic at Stanislaus State in Turlock and at the Modesto Centre Plaza on Tuesday, but the pause on administering the particular batch of Moderna leaves the agency short on vaccines.

“Due to this recommendation, Stanislaus County will not have enough vaccines to operate community vaccination clinics at this time,” the agency said in a news release. “Stanislaus County is working with the California Department of Public Health to acquire future allocations of vaccine and begin vaccinating the community again as soon as possible.”

Once given the COVID-19 vaccine, people are monitored for 15 minutes for any adverse reactions. All of the people that had allergic reactions had them during this standard observation period.

More than 330,000 doses from this lot have been distributed to 287 providers across the state. The shipments arrived in California between Jan. 5 and 12. The state has not been notified of any other cluster or individual events related to this lot.

As of Tuesday, Stanislaus County has recorded 758 COVID-19 deaths.