(CNN) When an advance staffer for Vice President Mike Pence stepped to the podium at an addiction recovery center in New Hampshire on Tuesday morning, the update he delivered didn't sound good.

"I do have some bad news at this point," he said seriously . "Air Force Two was headed this way, there's been an emergency."

With that, a scramble ensued among the White House, the vice president's office and a confused public as to what, precisely, was happening, with thoughts immediately turning to a medical crisis or foreign calamity.

It was neither, Pence's office later announced, declaring the schedule change had nothing to do with his (or President Donald Trump's) health nor national security. In fact, the vice president's plane had never left the ground. Without saying what specifically caused him to scrap his planned remarks on the opioid crisis, Pence's office insisted there was "no cause for alarm."

One person familiar with the cancellation described it as a site issue, but didn't specify what the issue was. Another said there was a problem surrounding the event and clearing one or more of the people involved.

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