After a freezer containing precious Modern COVID-19 vaccines that needed refrigeration broke down at a Seattle hospital, medical staff struggled to vaccinate as many people as possible at the University of Seattle and University Washington.
It turned out to be one of the wildest vaccine launches in history, as doctors rushed to use the vaccine for people before it expired Thursday night and Friday morning, the Seattle Times reported.
“I got a call this evening at nine o’clock and learned that a Kaiser freezer has come down and we could help vaccinate people before the doses expired at 5:30 in the morning?” Jenny Brackett, assistant administrator at the University of Washington, told the Seattle Times.
Between UW Medical Center’s Northwest and Montlake locations, they had 800 unexpected doses to administer.
Swedish non-profit healthcare system he tweeted Thursday Night I had 588 appointments available for the Modern coronavirus vaccine from 11pm to 2am
The cause of the freezer malfunction at Kaiser Permanente was not immediately clear.
“It was late, there was a follow-up: someone saw it and quickly thought about taking it to someone who could administer it,” said Cassie Sauer, president of the Washington State Hospital Association.
Sauer said no dose was used and 1,600 total doses were administered at different sites.