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Thanks to a CHS reader for the picture. We hope you have succeeded. (Image: CHS)
The eligible. The connected. The lucky.
Late Thursday night, the message spread across town that one of those emergency COVID-19 immunization events you’ve heard about was happening here in Seattle.
Freezer failure. An expiration at 5:30 am. A rush to distribute more than 1000 doses.
Just after 11 p.m. Thursday, officials of the Swedish health system announced its community vaccination clinic in Seattle University was rushing after closing earlier this week due to a lack of supply. “URGENT: We have 588 DOSE 1 MODERNA appointments available from January 28, 11 pm to January 29, 2 am,” the message read. The race was on to make an appointment.
Hundreds and maybe thousands lined up in sprawling crowds there and at UW Medicine which was also activated for the emergency vaccination effort. In total, some 1,300 doses were at risk.
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
At first, the Swede insisted that only participants in the currently eligible first phase of immunization – health workers, those 65 and over, 50 and over living in multigenerational households – were eligible. But the message varied over the night, and rumors spread that eligibility – and nominations – didn’t matter.
The Swede announced later that night that those with appointments would be vaccinated. Reports from the line detailed the volunteers on the 65-year-old’s search and last-minute successes, in the middle of the night.
The Seattle Times reports that a freezer failure in the Kaiser system triggered the urgent deployment, with officials turning to the few facilities, including the Seattle U clinic, that were already set up and ready for mass deployment.
The last of the emergency vials was used around 3 a.m.
Many older researchers have been used to the wee hours of the morning. State and local officials struggled to meet early vaccine rollout targets as the federal distribution system ramps up under the Biden administration, leaving many eligible in an overnight race to grab appointments you available when they are online.
Volunteers * rushed around the corner * earlier, a few minutes before the final doses expired and vaccinated this 75-year-old woman who runs a daycare! Around 3:30 am! Unreal pic.twitter.com/ZbnfxnrIK7
– David Ryder (@davidmryder) January 29, 2021
Scenes of emergency vaccine deployment in Seattle follow on from other stories from across the country where medical teams and volunteers have unexpectedly gathered to deploy gunfire when freezers break down or roads are blocked.
It also comes as the state has suddenly lowered the bar for reopening and social gatherings, making its most populous region eligible for lowered restrictions from Monday, even as fears grow of a more virulent strain of the virus.
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