When a Freezer Broke, One California Hospital Distributed 830 COVID Vaccines in 2.5 Hours

When a Freezer Broke, One California Hospital Distributed 830 COVID Vaccines in 2.5 Hours

After a storage freezer broke at a hospital in Northern California on Monday, health care officials were forced to distribute 830 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in just 2.5 hours.Around 11:30 on Monday morning, hospital workers at Adventist Health Ukiah Valley Medical Center in Mendocino County were alerted that a freezer holding the vaccines had stopped working. By 2 p.m., all 830 doses had been administered.Moderna vaccines need to be shipped and stored at temperatures of 36-46 degrees, and the doses had been sitting at room temperature since 2 a.m., according to the San Francisco Gate. Once the vaccine hits room temperature, it must be used within 12 hours.The medical staff estimated that they had roughly two hours to distribute the doses while they were still viable."It was not how my day was planned," Adventist spokeswoman Cici Winiger told The Los Angeles Times. "At that point, it was all hands on deck, drop everything."The hospital staff treated the situation as an emergency, and quickly began administering the vials. Around 200 doses first went to the county, which were allotted to health care workers and jail inmates, and 40 more were given to a local elderly care facility.The remaining 600