CLEVELAND — A tornado in North Carolina not only destroyed buildings and injured multiple people, but its impact may create a lasting impact across the country and in Northeast Ohio. The EF-3 tornado damaged one of the largest sterile injectable facilities in the world.
Sterile injectables, like vials, syringes, and anti-infection tools, may be harder for Northeast Ohio hospitals to purchase. Pfizer's Rocky Hills facility that supplies nearly 25% of sterile injectables was torn to pieces by an EF-3 tornado Wednesday. While the Ohio Department of Health stressed the importance of back-to-school vaccinations Thursday, Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff addressed if Ohio hospitals will be impacted or not.
“We have not gotten any information that would lead us to anticipate that kind of impact on vaccine capability,” Vanderhoff said.
ODH Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhofff attributes the COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst for change and improvement when it comes to Ohio hospital preparedness during nationwide shortages. Ohio's new zone structure that went into effect during the pandemic is designed to alert ODH when a hospital network is having medicinal or tool shortages.
“That allows us to stay in active and rapid communication with them around issues that may arise and then to work with them and national authorities to help address and mitigate the challenges as they appear,” Vanderhoff said.
While it may be too soon to see if hospitals are impacted by Pfizer's facility damage, Michael Goldberg with Case Western University predicts it will impact patients' wallets regardless.
“We may be seeing this hitting our own pockets as something like a sterile injectable gets passed onto the consumer, and even if you have insurance, but it's a high deductible, you might see high costs go back down to you,” said Goldberg, Associate Professor, Department of Design and Innovation, Weatherhead School of Management.
Pediatrician Hanna Lemerman with Akron Children's Hospital said this serves as a good reminder to get back-to-school vaccinations as soon as possible.
“Vaccines are safe and are effective and are really vitally important to prevent serious deadly diseases,” Lemerman said.
ODH said it will continue to monitor supply and demand.
“We are keeping a very close eye on that situation, and if that should change, we will not only communicate but take every action we can to help mitigate the problem,” Vanderhoff said.
New 5 reached out to multiple hospitals in the area to see if they're starting to experience shortages.
“We are working to get ahead of any potential disruptions that may occur as a result of the tornado in North Carolina. We are working with our distributor and our group purchasing organization to identify which supplies may be affected and to determine what alternatives we may have available. The safety of our patients and maintaining services without interruption are top priorities for us.”
“We are not anticipating any supply chain challenges related to the North Carolina tornado. We also have contingency plans in place with our suppliers to cover any such issues that might occur.”
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