GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) – Health workers in Oregon who got stuck in a snowstorm on their way back from a COVID-19 vaccination event went car-to-car injected by stranded drivers before a few doses expired.
Josephine County Public Health said on Facebook that the “impromptu vaccin clinic” took place after about 20 employees were stopped in traffic on a highway to a vaccination clinic.
Six of the vaccines were almost expiring, and the workers decided to offer them to other stranded drivers.
The shots were intended for other people, but ‘the snow meant the doses would not reach it until it expired’, the health department said.
Because they did not want to waste, staff walked from vehicle to vehicle and gave people the chance to receive the vaccine. An ambulance was available 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.
Josephine County Director of Public Health Mike Weber said it was one of the “coolest surgeries he has ever had.”