Healthcare workers administer COVID-19 vaccines to motorists stranded in snowstorm

Sometimes when life throws a literal roadblock, it suffices improvise and hope for the best. This was the case when a group of healthcare workers receiving doses of the COVID-19 vaccine got stuck in a snowstorm on an Oregon highway. Not wanting to let these doses expire, they administered them to motorists stuck in the snow.

Josephine County public health staff held a mass vaccination event at the Illinois Valley High School in Cave Junction, Oregon on Tuesday. After a successful event, the team had six doses to deliver to Grants Pass recipients. Unfortunately, the team were unable to make it to Grants Pass because a snowstorm blocked them on Route 199 near Hayes Hill.

To make matters worse, vaccines had to expire before reaching their destination.

But the workers weren’t about to let the right vaccines expire, and with an ambulance on hand, they set up an impromptu roadside clinic. JCPH staff walked from car to car, offering stranded motorists a chance to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In the end, all six doses were administered successfully, making the most of a bad situation. One of the recipients was even a person who couldn’t make it to high school in time for the original event.

I love this story. Being stuck in a snowstorm is a horrible situation. You can’t go anywhere, and you don’t know when you’ll finally be on your way. It’s even worse if you’re a healthcare worker trying to administer a vaccine before it expires. But these people took action to make sure that no dose was wasted.

To add icing to this wellness story, Department of Health Director Mike Weber said the situation was one of the coolest surgeries he’s been involved with.