Health workers were driving back from a vaccination center in Cave Junction, Ore, on Tuesday when they were caught in a snowstorm on the highway.
They knew they only had six hours to recover the remaining doses of coronavirus vaccine for people waiting for their shots in Grants Pass, about 30 miles away. Normally the journey takes about 45 minutes.
But with a tractor trailer in front of them, the crew realizes that they can get stuck for hours and the doses will lapse.
Therefore, the workers made the decision to walk from car to car and asked stranded drivers if they wanted to be vaccinated, right there on the spot.
“We had one person who was so happy, he took off his shirt and jumped out of the car,” said Michael Weber, director of public health in Josephine County, Ore.
Another recipient, according to him, was an office of the sheriff in Josephine County who arrived too late for the clinic in Cave Junction, but eventually got stuck with the others on the way back to Grants Pass.
Most drivers laughed at the offer of a coronavirus vaccine along the way and politely declined it, even though Mr. Weber said he has a doctor and an ambulance staff on hand to oversee the operation. He admitted that this was not the typical setting for a vaccination.
“It was a strange conversation,” he said. Weber said. “Imagine you were caught in a snowstorm along the road and let someone walk by and say, ‘Hey. Do you want a shot in the arm? ”
Mr. Weber said the health workers administered all six doses of the Moderna vaccine to six grateful drivers.
Mr. Weber calls it ‘one of the coolest operations’ he has ever taken part in and said it was an easy decision to administer the shots on the highway.
“Honestly, once we knew we would not be in town again in time to use the vaccine, it was just the obvious choice,” he said. “Our number 1 rule now is that nothing is wasted.”