The Stroudsburg Area School District in Monroe County must throw out 5,000 doses of swine flu vaccine because they got too cold, according to the district's superintendent. He says the temperature at which the vaccines were being stored dipped a few degrees below the allowed range.

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The vaccines must be stored between 35 and 46 degrees. But somehow the vaccine ended up being frozen and rendered useless.

"We felt like the refrigeration side of it was a no brainer," said John Toleno, Stroudsburg Area School District superintendent. "Put it in a refrigerator. So we did. Little did we know it was going to get too cold."

Stroudsburg Area School District Superintendent John Toleno says losing 5,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccines in a freak refrigeration accident is no joke. The district got the vaccines from the state Department of Health on Friday and immediately put them in cold storage. But on Saturday, the district found that instead of chilling the vaccines between 35 and 46 degrees, the temperature in the five-year-old refrigerator was at 31 degrees, just below freezing.

"If it's not kept at the right temperature, the vaccine isn't viable, so it can't be used," said Stacy Kriedeman, Pennsylvania Department of Health spokesperson.

"I'm realizing it's a mechanical fault," said Toleno. "We've been monitoring that refrigerator ever since that point in time and we have been right on the 40s, so there's really no explanation for it."

The Department of Health says it will work with the Stroudsburg Area School District to get more H1N1 vaccines. Pennsylvania has been allocated more than 900,000 doses. Toleno says the district is hoping it will receive surplus from other providers in the state so it can vaccinate its most at-risk population.

"At this point we are going to have to wait, unfortunately," said Toleno.

The Department of Health says it doesn't know how long the wait will be for Stroudsburg, but it will do its best to get vaccines to the district when they become available.

"While delays in vaccine production have occurred, the department continues placing orders as soon as vaccine is allocated to ensure it reaches Pennsylvania residents as quickly as possible," said Secretary of Health Everette James.

The Health Department says it has distributed the vaccine to 927 certified providers, including pediatricians, family health practitioners, obstetricians, hospitals, schools, colleges and universities that agreed to target the groups of people considered most vulnerable to complications from the virus. Public vaccination clinics will be held across the state once sufficient vaccine becomes available.

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