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Winter storms crippling the United States are gone millions without electricity and sent health officials to scramble to protect freezers filled with COVID-19 vaccines, which must be kept at extremely low temperatures or deteriorate.
Power outages across Texas wiped out at least one set of freezers filled with Moderna vaccine; 5,000 doses were sent to a university, a prison and a handful of hospitals before they expired. The Oregon Health Authority is moving vaccines to fueled locations, although the agency does not disclose storage sites with systems down. As part of its preparations for the storm, Kentucky has ensured that places holding COVID-19 vaccines have contingency plans.
“For each supplier, they have a generator on-site that is ready to go, or they have a partner who… can immediately pack it up and supply it,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a briefing on last week. “This should ensure that no dose or vial is wasted.”
Power outages are a challenge for hospitals and healthcare facilities at the best of times. The health care system depends on a constant supply of electricity to keep people healthy. Facilities require electricity for lighting, electronic medical records, fans, and refrigerators filled with drugs. Many people with illnesses depend on electricity in their homes for things like oxygen tanks. During outages, they also cannot heat or cool their homes to counter the extreme temperatures, which can be dangerous.
Hospitals must have back-up generators, but outpatient and community clinics are not subject to the same regulations. And generators fail sometimes – freezers that fell in Texas were supposed to be powered by a backup that ended up not working.
“We’re so used to having an uninterrupted power supply,” said Grete Porteous, anesthesiologist and emergency medicine specialist at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. The edge in 2019. “It’s really mind-boggling to realize that all of this is very fragile.”
A public health emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic amplifies the risk of power outages. Hospitals, public health services and other health care facilities are already exhausted. Many physicians are not used to treating patients with limited power and may have to navigate them on the fly when they are already strapped for resources. Shelters for people without electricity, like warming centers in Texas, could risk spreading COVID-19 even though they are essential in keeping people from freezing.
And any facility storing COVID-19 vaccines should pay special attention to freezers to protect them in addition to managing the power of their health records or their oxygen supply. Doses are still limited, and any vial lost because it has warmed up too quickly means fewer people can be protected from COVID-19.
The stakes of a blackout for healthcare are always high. But when the system is already unstable and running in tatters by an emergency, a second stressor is increasing the pressure to keep the lights on and the freezers running.
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