California hospital distributes 850 vaccines in 2.5 hours when refrigerator fails [SFGate, San Francisco]
Jan. 5 A Northern California hospital has shown it’s possible to get the COVID-19 vaccine into the arms of people fast.
Adventist Health Ukiah Valley Medical Center learned Monday morning the refrigerator holding Mendocino County’s most recent distribution of 850 Moderna vaccines had failed.
Racing to beat the clock before the vaccines spoiled, they successfully administered the entire supply in 2.5 hours in collaboration with the county’s health department and skilled nursing facilities.
Judson Howe, the financial officer for the medical center, said they aimed to issue the vaccine to high-risk individuals, but “the highest priority was making sure that nothing went to waste.”
I am elated. That is not an understatement.
Leslie received her first vaccination, Monday, and has the card to prove it. It happened weeks, maybe even months ahead of schedule, in a victory snatched from what might have been a disaster. It is astounding and heroic.
Early Monday morning, a freezer storing vaccine failed inside Adventist Health. By the time staff learned of it, those vials had a little more than two hours before expiration. Imagine the consequences of such a loss. Our main focus was making sure that no vaccine went to waste, said Judson Howe, who runs Adventist Health in Ukiah. His staff bypassed priority lists, gave 200 doses to the county, 70 more to eldercare facilities, distributed the rest to four pop-up clinics, and began making calls. Lines formed via word-of-mouth.