GRANTS PASS – Health officials in southern Oregon said staff gave six doses of coronavirus vaccine to motorists at an “improvised vaccine clinic” along a road in a snowstorm.
Josephine County Public Health said on Facebook that about 20 staffers were stranded Tuesday on U.S. Highway 199 near Hayes Hill on their way to Grants Pass after manning a nearby vaccination facility.
Officials said the vaccines had almost expired, and officials decided to offer them to other motorists.
“Recipients were identified in Grants Pass, but the snow meant the doses would not reach it until it expired,” the health department said.
The staff did not want to waste doses, but started walking from car to car, giving people the chance to receive the vaccine, with a rural ambulance on hand for safety.
All the doses were administered, including one to a sheriff’s employee in Josephine County who arrived late for the vaccination clinic but eventually stopped at the other, officials said.
Mike Weber, director of public health in Josephine County, said it was one of the “coolest surgeries he has ever had.”