A software fault let dead refrigerator sensors appear to be working across 43 health facilities in Fiji, leaving 9,260 doses of adult vaccines exposed to unverified storage conditions, health officials said on Tuesday. The doses include influenza, hepatitis B and tetanus vaccines; 3,120 have been quarantined, while 6,140 were administered before the failure was detected.
The problem surfaced on 14 October, when a server restart at the government’s Island Medicines Service duplicated thousands of old temperature readings. Staff noticed that separate fridges were reporting exactly the same values. A review found the screens had continued showing readings within the required 2°C to 8°C range even when sensors had stopped sending fresh data.
False readings, real doses
The affected equipment serves clinics on eight islands, including outer-island health posts that rely on refrigerated deliveries from Suva. Officials say there is no confirmed case of a vaccine losing potency or causing illness, but tests on retained samples will take up to three weeks. Clinics have paused use of the affected batches and are arranging replacement supplies.
“A green display was treated as proof the cold chain was intact. It was not proof of anything once the sensor went silent,” said Faraz Patil-Mathai, the service’s chief clinical pharmacist. He said staff are contacting adults who received doses from the affected stocks and will offer replacements if laboratory results show a problem.
The failure has also exposed payments of FJD 6.8 million (about €2.8 million) to Navoa Clinical Systems for two years of monitoring and maintenance. The contract promised continuous alerts when fridges lost contact with the network. A public purchasing register shows the final payment was approved in August, although the system had stopped refreshing readings at some sites months earlier.
The contract under scrutiny
Neli Povše, a former data analyst for the service, said she filed a report in March after seeing sites marked “live” despite failed connections. Fiji’s public finance rules offer informants 1% of money recovered through verified fraud reports. Povše said she has not received an award and does not know whether any sum will be recovered.
Navoa Clinical Systems said the display fault followed a software update and that it had not been told the department was relying on cached readings as live measurements. It said it would provide technicians and cover testing costs. Adrienne Gallet, a government health spokesperson, said officials were checking whether contract payments matched the service delivered and would refer any evidence of false certification to the public auditor.
The department has ordered manual temperature checks at every vaccine store and is installing replacement sensors, starting with the busiest clinics. Officials expect to publish the first laboratory results by 10 November. Until then, Fiji’s clinics must use unaffected stocks, while staff work through patient lists to identify anyone who may need a repeat dose.
