Oregon health workers administer Covid-19 vaccines during snowstorm to stranded motorists

Oregon healthcare workers who were stranded in a blizzard on Tuesday began administering leftover coronavirus vaccines to roadside motorists rather than letting doses go to waste, local officials said .

Josephine County public health staff and volunteers were leaving an Illinois Valley High School vaccination clinic, about 160 miles south of Eugene, when a storm stranded them and many others, on route 199.

The team had six remaining doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from the clinic, which they had planned to administer at nearby Grants Pass, but snow prevented them from reaching the city before the prepared doses expired.

“Not wanting to waste any doses, the dedicated JCPH staff members started walking from car to car, offering stranded motorists a chance to receive the vaccine,” the health department said in a Facebook message on Tuesday.

About 20 health workers and volunteers were part of the group, including Christi Siedlecki, whose family had just finished volunteering at the vaccination site and then attended the roadside clinic.

“Watching them go from car to car in such horrible weather made me proud,” Siedlecki told NBC News. “I felt gratitude that they are working so hard not to waste a single dose of the vaccine, even under such horrible conditions.”

All six vaccines have been successfully administered to those stuck in the snow, including one to an employee of the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, Josephine County Public Health said.

“It’s important for people to know how dedicated healthcare professionals are in delivering each dose to people,” Siedlecki said. “My community should be so proud. I am.”