Healthcare workers administer COVID-19 vaccines overnight to prevent doses from expiring after freezer failure

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A freezer malfunction in Seattle has created a race against time to ensure that the dead from the rapidly expiring Moderna COVID-19 vaccine do not get lost.

At around 9 p.m. Thursday night, a Kaiser Permanente Washington freezer containing about 1,600 first doses of the vaccine malfunctioned, according to The Seattle Times.

Hundreds of healthcare workers and volunteers immediately stepped in to make sure no doses were wasted – meaning all doses had to be given by 5.30am on Friday.

“I got a call tonight at 9 am and learned that a Kaiser freezer had broken down and could we help vaccinate people before the doses expired at 5:30 am?” Jenny Brackett, assistant administrator of the University of Washington Medical Center, said Time.

Swedish Medical Center and UW Medical Center split the doses and each posted on social media and reached out to local news stations to include the message in their shows.

URGENT: We have 588 DOSE 1 MODERNA appointments available from January 28, 11 p.m. to January 29, 2 a.m. Click on the link to book. For additional time slots until 2 a.m., click on VIEW MORE and select TOMORROW. Must be Phase 1a or Phase 1B / Tier 1. https://t.co/gtVkBKb9va pic.twitter.com/w3bKmQqbHk

– Swedish (@Swedish) January 29, 2021

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About 1,600 doses of the vaccine were administered frantically overnight

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Swedish Medical Center COO Kevin Brooks said appointments available at his hospital were filled in 35 to 40 minutes, according to local NBC affiliate King 5 News.

“We got a call from a partner hospital saying they had a refrigerator malfunction and needed to vaccinate 880 people,” Brooks told the news channel. “I got our team together, our vaccine team at Swedish, and we huddled up on Microsoft Teams and made a plan, and 30 minutes later we got there.”

Health officials told local media they tried to vaccinate as many priority patients as possible, including the elderly and essential workers, but the main goal was to ensure that no doses were taken. was wasted.

“We are doing our best to stay within CDC and governor’s guidelines for prioritization. At the same time, we want to make sure that no drop of vaccine is wasted,” Brooks told King 5 News.

Tyson Greer, 77, had woken up around 1 or 3 a.m. every day for more than a week to search online for an open vaccination appointment, she said. The Seattle Times.

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She spotted the call and headed to UW Medical Center – Northwest to finally receive her first dose.

“Heaven,” Greer told a Seattle Times journalist while waiting for vaccination.

Vaccines were given after 3 a.m. The Seattle Times reported.

It was not clear what caused the freezer to malfunction, but luckily all doses were able to be administered before they expired.

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