A malfunction in the freezer at Kaiser Permanente on Thursday led to an impromptu attempt to vaccinate people who may arrive in the middle of the night.
After the problem was discovered, 800 doses of the Moderna vaccine were given to UW Medicine, and almost 600 were given to the Swedish Medical Center.
The Swedish hospital has sent a tweet saying they need people to get vaccinated.
‘URGENT: We have 588 DOSE 1 MODERNA appointments available. 28 January 23:00 to 29 January 02:00. Click on link to book. Click SHOW MORE for additional slots until 2am and select MORE. Must be Phase 1a or Phase 1B / Level 1. ”
These levels include essential workers and elderly people who are awake at this time of night. By early morning, the levels would not matter.
People came in groups – by car, on foot, willing to spend hours under cover of night and parking garage.
At 02:00 people got tired and sat on the concrete. Hospital staff will regularly walk by to count how many people are left and how many will be vaccinated at night. They seemed to have processed about half of the group there.
At 3 a.m., staff said there are about 30 vaccines left, but they will expire at 3:30 p.m. Police, students, anyone can get it now. This includes this reporter, who was one of the last to be vaccinated and managed to wake up another person to come in at the last minute, after a series of late-night calls.
As the night became morning, more staff came in and encouraged the overnight staff. Their efforts were not in vain: no vaccines went to waste.
During a press conference on Friday, dr. Jeff Duchin of Seattle King County Public Health said he was proud of the collaboration of the three healthcare providers.
‘We did tell them [health care workers] that it would be better to give this vaccine to someone who is not eligible if they could not find enough suitable people in the middle of the night, than to throw it away. This is the last thing we want to do. ‘
There have also been other stories about the availability of surprising vaccines, from pharmacists calling over the loudspeaker that vaccine doses are available before the store closes.
Recently, a vaccine crew in Josephine County, Oregon, got stuck on a snowy road and went car after car until they found people willing to receive the vaccine.
Kaiser Permanente says they are inspecting all their refrigerators to make sure they are working properly.
From Feb. 1, King County will also open two new vaccination sites in Auburn and Kent. Public Health says it has enough shots for 500 people a day, 6 days a week, with the aim of serving those most at risk of Covid-19 and facing barriers to accessing vaccine through traditional healthcare systems.
If you are eligible for a vaccine, you can register for an appointment here.