Freezer Outage Forces California Hospital To Distribute 850 Vaccine Doses

A hospital in Northern California was forced into an emergency distribution of 850 doses of the Moderna vaccine when a power failure affected the freezer holding their ration.

Adventist Health Ukiah Valley Medical Center was holding their doses in a special freezer when the power failure occurred, according to the Mendocino Voice.

The Chief medical officer for Adventist Health in Mendocino County Dr. Bessant Parker said they noticed about 11:35 A.M. on Monday morning (January 4) that the freezer's power had died sometime earlier.

An alarm that is meant to alert hospital staff if a failure occurs had not gone off.

Realizing that they would have to distribute all 850 doses of the vaccine before they thawed, hospital staff began making calls and prepared to administer the doses.

Staff began administering vaccines at 12:00 P.M. while a line formed outside of the medical center.

Due to time constraints, the vaccines were only distributed at the hospital and key nursing homes in Ukiah. Dr. Parker said they considered sending doses to Howard Memorial Hospital but was not possible due to an accident blocking traffic on the 101 northbound.

By 2:00 P.M. all doses had been administered and people still waiting in line were turned away.

Nursing home workers, clinicians, and members of the general public on a first-come-first-serve basis were given an initial dose of the vaccine and CDC cards with their vaccination status. They will receive their second dose in about a month.

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