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– Oregon health workers who became trapped in a snowstorm on their way back from a COVID-19 vaccination event went car to car to inject stranded drivers before some of the doses expired. Josephine County Public Health said on Facebook that the “makeshift vaccination clinic” occurred after about 20 traffic workers were stopped on a highway following a vaccination clinic. Six of the vaccines were about to expire, so the workers decided to offer them to other stranded drivers. The shots were meant for other people, but “the snow meant those doses wouldn’t make it until they expired,” the health department said.
Not wanting to waste them, the staff walked from vehicle to vehicle to give people a chance to get the vaccine. A county ambulance was available for safety. All doses were administered, including one to a Josephine County Sheriff’s Office employee who arrived late for the vaccination clinic but eventually dropped out of the others, officials said. Mike Weber, Josephine County’s Director of Health, said it was one of the “coolest surgeries he was a part of.” (Read more stories about coronavirus vaccines.)